Podcasts about AAU

Nick Haber is in his second season as the Girls' Junior Varsity Basketball Coach at Strongsville High School in the state of Ohio. He has led the Mustang JV team to back to back winning seasons. As a young coach Nick has been focused on learning the fundamentals of coaching while teaching his players the importance of accountability and teamwork.On this episode Mike & Nick discuss the importance of being a coachable young coach and how he tries to create a supportive team environment for both players and coaches alike. Nick shares his commitment to nurturing accountability and teamwork among his players, which he believes are foundational elements of a successful basketball program. The conversation dives into the significance of effective communication, both in managing relationships with players and in addressing the often challenging dynamics that arise in high school basketball. Nick shares how the experiences of coaching extend far beyond the confines of the court, serving as vital life lessons for young athletes as they navigate the complexities of personal and team challenges.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.Make sure you're subscribed to the Hoop Heads Pod on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and while you're there please leave us a 5 star rating and review. Your ratings help your friends and coaching colleagues find the show. If you really love what you're hearing recommend the Hoop Heads Pod to someone and get them to join you as a part of Hoop Heads Nation.Grab your pen and some paper before you listen to this episode with Nick Haber, Girls' Junior Varsity Basketball Coach at Strongsville High School in the state of Ohio.Website - https://www.strongsvillemustangs.org/sport/basketball/girls/Email - nhaber18@outlook.comTwitter/X - @habes1811Visit our Sponsors!Give With HoopsGive With Hoops is a groundbreaking initiative that fuses basketball analytics with modern sponsorship. Built for teams who see data as opportunity, from AAU programs to college powerhouses. By tying on-court performance directly to community and sponsor engagement, Give With Hoops help programs raise more while deepening support from those who believe in the game.D3 Direct Recruiting PlaybookYour step-by-step guide to getting recruited as a college athlete at the NCAA Division 3 level. This course is designed by former D3 Athletes to take you from zero interest from college coaches to securing your first offer and putting you on the path to committing.The Coaching PortfolioYour first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job. A professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching achievements and philosophies and, most of all, helps separate you and your abilities from the other applicants. Special Price of just $25 for all Hoop Heads Listeners.Wealth4CoachesEmpowering athletic coaches with financial education, strategic planning, and practical tools to build lasting wealth—on and off the court.If you listen to and love the Hoop Heads Podcast, please consider giving us a small tip that will help in our quest to become the #1 basketball coaching podcast. https://hoop-heads.captivate.fm/supportTwitter/X Podcast - @hoopheadspodMike - @hdstarthoopsJason - @jsunkleInstagram@hoopheadspodFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/hoopheadspod/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDoVTtvpgwwOVL4QVswqMLQ

1 Timothy 4:8 NIV “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”   *Transcription Below*   Brian Smith, author of The Christian Athlete: Glorifying God in Sports, is a staff member with Athletes in Action and a cross-country coach at Lowell High School. A former collegiate runner at Wake Forest University, he earned a BA in Communications and Journalism before completing his MA in Theology and Sports Studies at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary. Brian lives in Lowell, MI with his wife and three children. You can find him on Twitter @BrianSmithAIA.   Ed Uszynski is an author, speaker, and sports minister with over three decades' experience discipling college and professional athletes. With a heart for reconciliation and justice, he also works as a racial literacy consultant and marriage conference speaker, blending Biblical wisdom with practical living in the midst of complex cultural realities. He has two theological degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a PhD in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. He and his wife Amy have four children and live in Xenia, Ohio.   The Christian Athlete Website   Thank You to Our Sponsor:  Sam Leman Eureka   Questions and Topics We Cover: What is one of kids' greatest game day complaints?  Is it true that young athletic success is a predictor of adult athletic success? What are a few tips for instilling a heart of gratitude in our young athlete, rather than entitlement?   Related Savvy Sauce Episode: 230 Intentional Parenting in All The Stages with Dr. Rob Rienow   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:11)   Laura Dugger: (0:12 - 1:51) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.   The principles of honesty and integrity that Sam Leman founded his business on continue today, over 55 years later, at Sam Leman Chevrolet Eureka.   Owned and operated by the Bertschi family, Sam Leman and Eureka appreciates the support they've received from their customers all over Central Illinois and beyond. Visit them today at lemangm.com.   Brian Smith and Ed Uszynski are my guests for today.   They are co-authors of this recent amazing book entitled, A Way Game, A Christian Parents Guide to Navigating Youth Sports. And from the very beginning, I was captivated, even with one of the endorsements from Matt Martens, who's the president and CEO of Awana, and he summed it up this way, A Way Game provides a much needed perspective shift on one of the most sacred idols in our culture, youth sports. So, Brian and Ed are all for youth sports, and yet you're going to hear there's a different way to approach it than what we've been trained in culture.   And they're going to share some wonderful and very practical insights. I can't wait to share this with you. Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Ed and Brian.   Ed Uszynski & Brian Smith: (1:51 - 1:54) Thanks for having us, Laura. Yeah, good to be here, Laura.   Laura Dugger: (1:54 - 2:04) So, excited about this chat. And will the two of you just start us off by sharing your family's stage of life and your involvement in sports?   Brian Smith: (2:05 - 3:29) Yeah, there could be a lot on the back end of that question. I'll start with sports, then get into family. I've been involved in sports my entire life, played every sport imaginable growing up, got cut from just about every single sport my freshman year of high school, ended up running track and cross country because it was the only sports that you could not get cut from at my high school.   And I ended up being pretty good at it by the time I was a senior, won some state championships, ended up getting a scholarship to run at Wake Forest University. So, I did that for four years right out of college. I coached a little bit collegiately.   Soon after that, I joined staff with a sports ministry called Athletes in Action that Ed and I have a combined 50 years with Athletes in Action. And really, that's been my life ever since. I've been ministering to college and pro athletes, discipling them, helping them figure out what does that actually look like to integrate faith in sport.   Even today, I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I coach high school cross country while I'm still on staff with Athletes in Action. I have a middle school Bible study that I run on Wednesday mornings.   Been married to my wife, who I actually met in high school. She was a distance runner too, and she ran at Wisconsin. So, we've been married for 20 years.   We have three kids, a high schooler, a middle schooler, and an elementary schooler who are all involved in sport at some level, some way, shape, or form.   Laura Dugger: (3:30 - 3:34) Wow, that's incredible. Thank you, Brian. And Ed, what about you?   Ed Uszynski: (3:34 - 5:04) Well, my story is very parallel to Brian's, just different sports and some different numbers. Just tack on 15 years. Yeah, I was a basketball player.   Grew up on the west side of Cleveland with a high school football coach. My dad was, but I was a basketball player. I played at high levels all the way through my 20s, got to play overseas.   I mean, this was a long time ago, but I got everything I could out of that sport. And as soon as I graduated from college, though, I started to work with that Athletes in Action ministry that Brian mentioned. So, I've been working with college and professional athletes for 34 years now.   And same, coached at different levels, have four kids. Amy and I have been married for 26 years. We have four kids, three are in college, and one's in ninth grade, who has a game this afternoon, actually.   So, we've just been going to games and have been involved in going to sports stuff for the last 20 years with our kids. And really what happened with Brian, and I is that we looked up a decade ago and realized this youth sports thing was a fast train that was moving in directions that we weren't used to ourselves, even though we've been around sports our whole life. It's like, there's something different happening now.   And then thinking about it as Christians, like, how do we do this well as Christ followers? We don't want to separate from it. We don't want to just go for the ride. How do we do this as Christian people? And that's what got us talking about it and eventually led to this book.   Laura Dugger: (5:05 - 5:23) Well, the book was easy to read and incredible. And I'd like to start there where you begin, even where you go back before going forward. So, when you're looking back, what are the factors at play that changed youth sports over time?   Ed Uszynski: (5:26 - 6:17) Well, I'll say this and then Brian, maybe you jump in and throw a couple of them out there. I mean, youth sports is a $40 billion industry today, which is wild to think about. It's four times how much money gets spent on the NFL, which is just staggering.   I can't even hardly believe that that's true, but it is. And it's really just in the last 20 years that that's happened. I mean, 50 years ago, you couldn't have had the youth sport industrial complex, as we refer to it.   You couldn't have had it. There were a bunch of things that had to happen culturally, as is true with any new movement or any paradigm shift that happens in culture. You've got to have certain things be true all at the same time that make it possible.   So, Brian, what were a couple of those? Again, I'll throw it over to you. There's six of them that we talk about in the book. And I think it's really fascinating because I'm a history guy.   Brian Smith: (6:18 - 8:40) Yeah. And we can obviously double click on any of these, Laura, that you want to, but we talk about how the college admissions process became an avenue where youth sports parents saw, man, if we can get our kids involved in some extracurriculars and kind of tag on high level athlete to their resume, it actually helps with the college admissions process. And so even the idea of college scholarships became an opportunity for youth sports parents to get their kids involved.   And then, yeah, maybe sports can actually get them into college. We talk about the economic shifts that happen, the rise of safetyism and helicopter parenting. ESPN was a massive one in 1979.   This thing called ESPN starts, and we get 24-7 coverage of sports, which they started exploring even early on. What does it look like to give coverage to something like Little League World Series and saw that it didn't really matter how young the sport was, it's going to draw a national audience. And so, we've almost been discipled by ESPN really over the last 50 years with this consistent coverage.   We talk about the rise of the sports complex. This one to me is like the most fascinating out of all of them. In 1997, Disney decided to try to get more people to come to their parks.   They built a sports complex, just a massive sports complex. The idea was, are the older kids getting sick of the Buzz Lightyear ride and the Disney princesses? So, let's build a sports complex and maybe it'll be something else that will draw this older crowd too.   And what happened was, I mean, a lot of people started coming to it, but kind of the stake in the ground game changer was when 9-11 hit. In the months and years after that, they saw a lot less people go to their parks, but population actually doubled going to the sports complex, which is wild to think that people were afraid to go to theme parks for a vacation, but they were willing to travel across state lines to play sports at the Disney complex. So other cities and municipalities took notice of that.   Today, there's over 30,000 sports complexes like Disney's, which again, this is all adding to the system of the youth sports industrial complex. Did I miss any, Ed?   Ed Uszynski: (8:41 - 10:47) Well, no, and that's good. And the reason why we even put all that on the table, again, everybody kind of intuitively knows if you're involved, you know, something's not right. But I think it's important to say this is not normal what's happening.   It's a new normal that's been manufactured by a bunch of cultural trends, by a bunch of entrepreneurs that are doing what entrepreneurs do, and they're taking advantage of the moment, and they are generating lots of money around it. So, it should be encouraging. If it's not normal, that means actually there's a counter way of going about this.   There really can be reformation. But when all this money gets involved, the two biggest consequences that come out of that is our kids start getting treated like commodities, which they are, and we could talk the whole time even just about what that means. But maybe even more importantly, or what comes out of that is that beyond their physical development, most coaches and clubs are not paying any attention to their emotional development, their psychological development, their spiritual development, all the different aspects of what it means to be human that, frankly, used to be paid quite a bit more attention to in youth leagues when I was growing up.   I'm 58 now, so I was playing in the 70s and the 80s. And it used to be expected, at least at some level, even among non-Christian people, that you would take those aspects of a kid's life seriously. And now those just aren't prioritized.   And so, what do we do about that? Again, that's kind of our whole point is, well, as Christian people, we're really supposed to be our kid's first discipler anyways. And part of that role and part of taking on that identity is that we would be asking, what is God trying to do in the wholeness of their life, the entirety of their life, even in the context of sports?   So again, I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but that's why we're trying to poke into that to say, oh, we could actually make change. We may not change the whole system. In fact, we won't. Most of us won't be expected to do that, but we can make significant change in our corner of the bleachers and what happens with our kids.   Laura Dugger: (10:48 - 11:05) That's good. And just like you said, to double-click on a few places, first of all, real quick, the 30,000 number, I remember that shocking me in the book, but I'm forgetting now, is that worldwide, the amount of sports complexes or is that just in America?   Brian Smith: (11:05 - 11:06) That's domestically in the US.   Laura Dugger: (11:07 - 11:52) Yeah. That is staggering. And then one other piece, all of this history was new to me as you brought it all together, but it was also fascinated.   This is from page 32. I'll just read your quote. The American youth sports ball began rolling when a British movement fusing spiritual development with physical activity made its way across the Atlantic Ocean at the turn of the last century.   And Ed, that's kind of what you were touching on, that they were mixing, I'm sure, spiritual, psychological discipleship, physical. Can you elaborate more on what was happening and where it originated? Because we've come very far from our origins.   Ed Uszynski: (11:53 - 13:18) Yeah. And there's been a bunch of really great books written about this topic called muscular Christianity. This idea, like you just said, Laura, of wedding physical activity through sports with our spiritual development and expecting and anticipating that somebody that was taking care of their body and that was engaging in sport activity, that was the closest thing to godliness.   That opened up the door for you to also be developing spiritually. And there was an expectation that both of those are going on at the same time. A bunch of criticism about that movement, but it was taken seriously.   The YMCA is actually a huge byproduct of the muscular Christianity movement. The Young Men's Christian Association created space for sports and for athletic activity to take place under the banner of you're also going to grow spiritually as you're doing this. So again, that was a hundred years ago.   And that's not really what AAU stands for today. The different clubs and leagues that we get involved in just don't talk that way anymore. Of course, culture just in general has shifted away from sort of a Judeo-Christian ethic guiding a North Star for us.   Even if we're not Christian people, that used to be more of a North Star. That's gone now. And so, it really is not expected in sports anymore.   Brian Smith: (13:18 - 13:55) And what we're saying is we cannot expect organizations to own that process for our kids. We can't outsource the discipleship of our kids to the youth sports industrial complex or the YMCA or the AAU. It really does start with us as Christian parents to be the primary discipler of our kids.   And there is a way to take what's happening on the field or the court or the pool and turn it into really amazing discipleship opportunities. But it means, and Ed is starting to tease this out, it means we need to change our perspective as parents when we sit in the bleachers or on the sidelines of what we're looking for and even the conversations we have with our kids on the back end.   Laura Dugger: (13:57 - 15:29) And now a brief message from our sponsor.   Sam Leman Chevrolet Eureka has been owned and operated by the Bertschi family for over 25 years. A lot has changed in the car business since Sam and Stephen's grandfather, Sam Leman, opened his first Chevrolet dealership over 55 years ago.   If you visit their dealership today though, you'll find that not everything has changed. They still operate their dealership like their grandfather did, with honesty and integrity. Sam and Stephen understand that you have many different choices in where you buy or service your vehicle.   This is why they do everything they can to make the car buying process as easy and hassle-free as possible. They are thankful for the many lasting friendships that began with a simple welcome to Sam Leman's. Their customers keep coming back because they experience something different.   I've known Sam and Stephen and their wives my entire life and I can vouch for their character and integrity, which makes it easy to highly recommend you check them out today. Your car buying process doesn't have to be something you dread, so come see for yourself at Sam Leman Chevrolet in Eureka. Sam and Stephen would love to see you and they appreciate your business.   Learn more at their website, LemanEureka.com or visit them on Facebook by searching for Sam Leman Eureka. You can also call them on 309-467-2351. Thanks for your sponsorship.   Laura Dugger: (15:30 - 15:31) And I want to continue getting into more of those practicals. Do you want to give us just a taste or an example or story of what that might look like?   Brian Smith: (15:32 - 16:54) We keep saying, we keep talking about the importance of the car ride home that it's tempting for us and not us broadly in the U.S., tempting for us, Ed and I, as people who have done this for 50 plus years and who should know better, it's tempting for us as discipled by an ESPN over analyzing everything culture and want to talk about sports to get in the car ride home with our kids and all we want to talk about is how game went, what they did right, what they did wrong, what they could fix next time.   Maybe instead of passing to Tim, they should take the shot next time because they're wide open. They just hit three in a row. So, and what our kids need from us in those moments is less coaching, less criticizing, less critiquing, and they just need us to connect with them.   The stats on kids quitting youth sports is crazy right now. Its 70 percent are quitting before the age of 13, in large part because it's not fun, and a lot of kids are attaching this idea of it not being fun to the car ride home with their parents who, let's say this too, most of us are well-intentioned parents. We're not trying to screw our kids up.   We want what's best for our kids, but the data and the research and the lived experience continues to tell us what our kids need from us is just to take a deep breath, connect with them, less coaching. Ed keeps saying less coaching, more slurpees.   Laura Dugger: (16:55 - 17:07) I like that. And that ties in. Is it called the peak-end principle that you discovered why kids are resisting that critique on the way home?   Brian Smith: (17:07 - 18:17) Yeah, absolutely. The peak-end rule in psychology is known as this: we, just as humans in general, not just kids, we largely remember things in our lives based on the peak moment of that event, but also how the event ends. And so, the peak moment in sport can be anything from something that goes really well, like they scored a goal or made a basket or something that did not go well, just like a massive event that took place that they're going to remember.   But then it's also married to how that event ends. So, if you think for kids, how does every youth sport experience end? It ends with the car ride home.   So, if they're experiencing the car ride home as I did not live up to mom and dad's standards, or there's fear getting into the car because they don't know what their parents are going to say, how are they remembering the totality of their youth sport experience? It is, I didn't, I didn't measure up. I wasn't enough.   It felt like sports was a place that I needed to perform for my parents or my coach. And I always feel a little bit short. We want to help parents see like there's a different path forward that can be more joyful for you, but hopefully more joyful for your kid as well.   Ed Uszynski: (18:17 - 21:37) Well, and, and I'll just, let me keep going with that, Brian. I thought you really articulated all that so well. I can just imagine a parent maybe thinking, was there never a time to correct?   Is there never a time to give input? And we would say, well, of course there, there is, they need far less of it from us than we think they need when it comes to their sport. And again, we can talk about that.   They need far less of that from us. They need us to be their parents, not to be their coaches. Even if we are their coach, they need us to be more their parents.   But there is a time to do it. We're just saying the car ride home is the worst time to do it. And that's usually the time that most of us, you know, we've got two hours of stuff to download with them.   And that's just, it's not a good time. But the other thing that Brian and I keep talking about is how about, what if we had some different metrics that we were even trying to measure? So, most of the time our metrics have to do with their performance.   Like what, what are we grading them on? Again, depending on what the sport is, there's these different things that we're looking for to say, how you did today is based on whether you did this or you didn't do that and whatnot. And we're saying as parents, and again, starting with us, we needed some other metrics that were actually more concerned about what was going on in their soul.   So again, I'm sure we'll talk more about this, but the virtues, how did love show up in the way they competed today? Where that usually is tied to them noticing somebody else. Do I, am I even asking them any questions about that?   Are they experiencing peace in the midst of all this chaos and anxiety that shows up at every game? How do we teach them to experience peace? How do they become other-centered instead of just self-centered all the time in a culture, a sport culture that's teaching them to always be the center of attention and try to be?   So, we just have needed to exchange some of what we had on that performance list, like tamper that down a little bit and maybe expand the list of categories that we're looking for that actually will matter when they're 25. And we keep saying this, our goal is that they'd come home for Thanksgiving when they're 25. And so, we need to stay relationally connected to them and how we act on the car ride home day after day after day after day, year after year is doing something to our relationship.   But we also are recognizing that it's really not going to matter whether Trey finishes with his left hand at the game today when he's 25, it's not going to matter. It's not going to matter probably a year from now, but how he goes through the handshake line after the game and the way he addresses other people, and whether or not he's learning to submit to authority, whether or not he's learning to embrace other people's humanity. Yes, even in the context of sports, that's really going to matter when he's 25.   It's going to matter when he's married. Those are the things that will matter. And we say that as people who are older and have been involved in ministry and have worked with college athletes and see what happens in their lives even after they're finished, and they have no idea who they are anymore.   And this thing that's dominated their life has not actually prepared them well to do life. And that's a problem that we say, let's start changing that when they're six and not hope they're figuring it out when they're 22.   Laura Dugger: (21:38 - 22:11) I love that because that's such a theme throughout those virtues that you talked about, but discipleship and sports are a tool or a way that we can disciple our kids. I also love that you give various questions throughout the book and even quick phrases. So to close that conversation on the car ride home, if we say, okay, that's what I've been coaching the whole way home, what is a question we could ask our child afterwards and a statement we could say and leave it at that and do it a better way?   Brian Smith: (22:12 - 23:56) The question I have consistently asked my kids after learning that I've been doing this the wrong way for a long time, I tweet my question to they get in the car and I say, is there anything that happened today from the game that you want to talk about? And it's frustrating to me because 99% of the time they say, no, can we listen to the radio? And we listen to the radio, or they play a on my phone, but I'm respecting their desire that they're done with what just happened and they're ready to move on to the next thing, even though I really want to talk about what just happened.   And then the statement that I want to make sure that I'm consistently saying that they're hearing is I love you and I'm proud of you. So, game didn't go well. Yeah, you did play well today.   That's okay. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you. Game went well today.   Awesome. Great job. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you.   So I want that to be the consistent theme that they're hearing for me, which is hopefully going to help them better understand the gospel later in life, that as they get older and older, hopefully they'll begin to realize it seemed like the way that my mom and dad interacted with me when I was performing in sport, but their love was not attached to my performance. That seems really similar to what I'm learning more and more that Jesus does for me, that I'm trying to do all these things that are good. But from what I'm understanding about the gospel, it seems like Jesus loves me in spite of what I do.   He loves me just because He's connected to me, that God loves me because I'm a son or daughter, not because I'm performing as a son or a daughter. So, in a very real way, I really am hoping that I'm giving a good teaser for my kids now for when they fully experience the gospel as they go through the life.   Ed Uszynski: (23:56 - 24:47) Another really good connecting question. I love how you said all that, Brian, is if they don't want to talk about the game, is it okay, did you have fun today? And they can only go in one of two directions.   No. Well, tell me about that. Why not?   And it opens up the door to talk about, well, because I didn't get to play or because something bad happened. And again, tell me more about that. Tell me more about that.   Or they say, yes, great. What happened that was fun? And it creates a very different conversation in the car.   And it opens up, again, relational possibilities that go way beyond, why do you keep passing it when you should be shooting it? Wow. And just all the different ways that that comes out of us, depending on sport, depending on their age.   But those are great questions. Go ahead, Brian.   Brian Smith: (24:47 - 25:41) I just asked my son this morning. He's a freshman. His wrestling season is almost done.   And I just asked, like, what has been most fun for you in wrestling this year? And his first thing was, I feel like I'm learning a lot. And that's really fun for me, which he's on a really good team.   He's had a lot of success. He's made a lot of good friends. But even that gave me a window into his characters.   My son enjoys and I knew this is true about him. But my son enjoys learning, which means he enjoys the process of getting better and better and better, which can happen in school, it can happen doing stuff in the yard, it can it can also happen in sport. But for me to remember moving forward, yeah, he he's probably going to have a different metric for what's fun in sport than I often do for him.   Yeah, like I wanted to learn. I want him to win though, too. He's happy with learning right now.   So, I need to be happy with that for him.   Ed Uszynski: (25:41 - 26:34) If I can say this, too, again, I don't want to be vulnerable on your behalf. But then knowing this, he's lost a lot this year to really good kids. Yeah.   And so much of the learning has been in the context of losing. So, you as a dad, actually, you could be crushing him because of those losses and what he needs to do to fix that and what he needs to do so that that doesn't happen again. And it's like he's already committed to learning.   How do you just how do you celebrate the loss? Like he took the risk to try something new in this movie. He tried to survive an extra period.   That's a process when and it's we just need to get better at that. Like you genuinely can celebrate that. That's not just a that's not like a participation trophy.   It's acknowledging now, do you're taking you're taking the right steps that are actually making you a winner, even if you don't have more points at the end of the game right now.   Laura Dugger: (26:34 - 26:54) Yeah. Yeah. And that long term win that you're talking about, even with character and you've talked about fun and asking them about fun.   Is it true that that's the main reason kids are dropping out of sports at such a rapid rate before age 13 is that it's just not fun anymore?   Ed Uszynski: (26:55 - 28:58) Yeah. Yeah. And why is it not fun?   And again, this is where Brian and I are always getting in each other's business. And we know that this conversation gets in all of our business as adults. But why is it not fun?   It's not fun because of the coaches and it's not fun because of the parents. We are creating stress. We are creating again collectively because we're all in different places on the on the spectrum on this in terms of what we're actually doing when we show up at games.   But if you even just go to any soccer game and you be quiet and just listen to what's happening and everybody's shouting and screaming things and there's contradictory messages being sent and there's angst at every turn and there's an incredible celebration because this eight year old was able to get the ball to go across the line for another goal. And what that's doing inside the kids is it is creating a not fun atmosphere. Let's just say it like that.   That's a not fun atmosphere when you're eight, when you're 10, when you're trying to figure out how to make your body work. You're trying to learn the game that you're unfamiliar with and you're trying to do what this coach is telling you to do. And you're also trying to do what all the parents are telling you what to do.   And if it's a team sport, you're trying to interact and play with other kids who are all in that same state of disarray, which is very stressful and frustrating. And we're just adding to it. So instead of removing it, instead of playing a role that says, we're going to keep diffusing that stress.   And again, I'll speak for myself. Too often, I have been the one that's actually adding to it. And so, kids are just like, why would I do this?   Why would I want to get in that car again with you? It's not fun. This is a game.   And so, there's a million other things that I can do with my time where I don't have everybody yelling at me and I don't have to listen to you correct me for two hours.   Laura Dugger: (29:00 - 29:21) Well, and one other thing that surprised me, maybe why kids are dropping out, you share on page 47, a quote that research reveals a strange correlation. The more we spend, the less our kids actually enjoy their sport. So, did you have any more insight into that?   Brian Smith: (29:21 - 30:50) Yeah, this was a real study that was done at Utah State. Researchers found that the more money parents are spending, again, let's say well-intentioned parents, the more we're spending in sports, the less our kids are enjoying. And the more they have dug into it, they're finding, and intuitively it makes sense.   If you buy your kid a $600 baseball bat, what's the expectation that they're supposed to do with this really expensive bat? When they swing, they better hit the ball, and they better get on base. If we're going to buy you this expensive of a bat, you can't just have process goals with it.   You better swing and hit it. And that's causing stress for kids. If you travel across state lines and you go to Disney to play at their sports complex, you're not there for vacation.   You're there to perform. So even if parents are saying we're trying to have fun, kids know when you're traveling and you're getting all this good equipment and you're on the elite team and you're receiving the best of the best stuff, they know it comes with some sort of an expectation. College athletes can barely handle that type of pressure and expectations, but we've placed this professional on youth sports from fifth five-year-olds to 15-year-olds, and it's just crushing them.   It's crushing them. Again, college athletes and professional athletes can barely handle it. They need mental health coaches for sports, but we're expecting that our five-year-olds can handle it, and they can't.   Ed Uszynski: (30:51 - 31:19) And they may not even be able to articulate it. So that's the other thing. They may not be able to identify what's actually going on inside and put it into words.   So again, that's why we're trying to sound the alarm for ourselves and for others who are listening, because we can do it different. Again, just to even keep spinning it back in an encouraging direction, we can do this different. We can change this this week in our corner of the bleachers.   We can start over again.   Laura Dugger: (31:21 - 31:48) Absolutely and make a difference. And before we talk about even more of the pros with sports, I think it's also necessary to reflect and maybe even grieve a few things. So, what would you say are some things families are missing out on when they choose youth sports to overfill their calendar, that that's all that they make time for?   What do you think they're missing out on?   Brian Smith: (31:51 - 33:16) Yeah, I think a couple that come to mind are family dinners are a big one. That's big for us in the Smith house, is just having the ability after a long day to sit at the dinner table together, to eat food together, and to process the day and be with one another. But when my kids' practice goes late, it means we're either eating almost towards bedtime or we're eating in different shifts.   And so that's something that we grieve. I think for me, when my schedule is full, I'm tempted to adopt the mindset that what's happening on the wrestling mat or on the track matters more than it actually does. And it robs me of the ability to just take a deep breath and smile and enjoy watching my kids play sports.   That without an intervention or a pregame devotional in the car for myself, I risk sitting in the stands or being on the sidelines, being stressed out and putting pressure on myself and pressure on my kids and gossiping about why the coach didn't put this kid into the people next to me, instead of just enjoying the gift that is sports and watching my kid try and succeed and try and fail. That is a gift available to me as a dad to watch my kid do that. But the busyness often robs me of that perspective.   Ed Uszynski: (33:17 - 36:06) Well, and the busyness robs, again, if you're married, that busyness eventually wears away at your relationship. And it's not just sports. I mean, busyness, we can fill our schedule, overfill our schedules with any number of things.   We can overfill our schedules with church stuff to a point where it becomes detrimental to our relationship. If we don't set boundaries so that we're making sure we're doing what we need to do to be face-to-face and to be going to areas beneath the surface with each other in our relationship and being able to do that with our kids as well, eventually there's negative consequences to that. It may not happen right away, but I've definitely experienced that.   We've experienced that in our home where it's easy to maybe chase one kid around for a while, but what happens when you add three into the mix and you haven't really done a time budget or paid attention to the fact that when we sign up for all these things, you get a month into it and you realize, oh, we have to be in different places at the same time. So, we're not even watching stuff together anymore. We're just running.   I can endure anything for a season, but what youth sports wants now in every sport from the youngest ages is that it becomes a year-round commitment. So, you're not even signing up to play a season anymore. You're signing up for a year in most cases because after the games, then they're going to have training.   They're going to have this other thing going on. And so again, can we say, well, we'll play the actual season, but then we're not going to do the additional training over these next three months. Again, we want to give parents' permission that you can say no to that.   Well, we paid for it. Well, it's okay. If you want your kid to be on that team and you like this club or whatever, then you pay the money and you just say, we're going to sit those three months out and we're going to use those three months actually to have people over our house for dinner.   Again, whatever's on the list, Laura, that you said about being more holistic and not letting sport operate like an idol in our life where it's taken on, it's washed out everything else in our life. We can get back in control of that by just saying no a little bit. You can go to church on Sunday.   Even if there's tournament games going on on Sunday, you can go to the coach early and say, hey, we just, in our family, we just don't want to be available before 12. Are you okay with that? And most of the time coaches will be.   The kid might have to sit extra maybe for not being, whatever. Okay. That's not going to be the end of the world that they had to sit out an extra game or had to sit out a half because they weren't available on Sunday morning.   It might actually make a huge difference that they weren't at church for two and a half years in the most formative time of their life.   Laura Dugger: (36:07 - 37:36) And a lot of times the way of wisdom includes reflection, getting alone with the Lord and asking, have we overstuffed our schedule this conversation today? Let's talk specifically with youth sports. Is that trumping everything else?   Because what if we're putting it in a place it was never intended to be as an idol where we sacrifice hospitality or discipleship or community or even just a more biblical way of life? I think we have to bring wisdom into the conversation for what you've mentioned. Whether it's worth it, if they're even enjoying it, how much we're spending on it, and do we have the budget to allocate our finances that way and evaluating the time just to see and make sure that it's rightly ordered.   Did you know you could receive a free email with monthly encouragement, practical tips, and plenty of questions to ask to take your conversation a level deeper, whether that's in parenting or on date nights? Make sure you access all of this at thesavvysauce.com by clicking the button that says join our email list so that you can follow the prompts and begin receiving these emails at the beginning of each month. Enjoy!   But if we flip that to if youth sports are rightly ordered, then what are some things that we can celebrate or reasons that you would want families to give this a try?   Brian Smith: (37:37 - 40:09) The massive positive that we keep coming back to is we have a front row seat to see our kids go through every possible emotion in sport, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. And then if we have the right perspective, we are armed with awesome opportunities and awesome information that we're seeing. We get to see what our kids are really good at.   We get to see their character gaps. And then we get to be the ones who, again, who are their primary response, primary disciplers. It really goes back to like, are we trusting youth sports for too little in our kids' lives?   Like many of us are trusting that our investment is going to get them a spot on a team, or maybe they get an opportunity in high school, maybe in college. And what we're saying is, yeah, that maybe. And that's not a bad end goal.   But if that's everything that you're investing into youth sports, it's not enough. Like what you have available to you every single day is to ask your kid if they showed somebody else's dignity on the field. You don't know if your kid's going to hit a home run today.   That may not be available to them their entire life. What's available to them every single day is to ask a question to their teammate, to see somebody and show dignity to them. And that's really, it's like, it's almost the opportunity of a lifetime for us as parents who, when our kids get home from school, we really don't know what happened most of the day.   We asked them how it went and we get the one-word answer. In sports, we don't have to guess. We get to see everything that happens.   And again, if we are actually trusting youth sports for discipleship investment, that's a good ROI. That's a good return on our investment. But we need a consistent intervention almost daily to say, no, this is why they're in sports.   Yes, I want to see them get better. I want to see them have fun, but Holy Spirit, would you help me see things today that I normally don't see? Holy Spirit, would you put them in circumstances and relationships today and in the season that's going to help them look more and more like Jesus by the time the season's done?   Holy Spirit, would you convict me in the moment when I am being a little too mouthy and saying things that I shouldn't? Would you help me to repent? And God, in those moments where I'm actually doing wrong on behalf of my kid, would you help me to humble myself and apologize to them?   And God, would you repair our relationship that way? So again, all of these options are available just because our kid's shooting a ball or they're on the field with somebody else tackling other people. We're trusting youth sports for too little.   Ed Uszynski: (40:10 - 41:10) That's all big boy and big girl stuff. It just is. I don't normally naturally do any of that.   I have to be coached into that. I have to be discipled myself. I have to work through my own issues, my own baggage, my own fears about the future, my own idolatrous holding onto this imagined future that I have for my kid, irrespective of what God may or may not want.   I've got my own resentment. I've got my own regrets from the past. I wish things had gone differently for me, so I'm going to make sure they go different for you when it comes to sports.   And it's hard to look in the mirror and admit that I have anger issues. I mean, youth sports create a great opportunity for me to get up all my pent-up frustration from the day. We've given ourselves permission to do that, in most cases, to just yell and yell at refs and gripe about coaches and yell at kids.   Brian Smith: (41:10 - 41:31) Because that's what we do at the TV, right? When our favorite team is playing, we've conditioned ourselves to say, awful call, that was terrible. Then we get on social media and we complain about it.   We are discipling ourselves to this is how it's normative to respond within the context of sports. Then we carry all that baggage to our six-year-old soccer game.   Laura Dugger: (41:33 - 42:02) Well, I love how you keep pointing it back toward character and discipleship. You clearly state throughout the book, sports don't develop character, people do. But could you maybe elaborate on that a little bit more and share more now that we've listed pros and cons, you still list a completely different way that we can meaningfully participate while also pushing back?   Brian Smith: (42:04 - 43:49) I'll start with the first part, and then you can answer the second. We use the handshake line as a great example of why character needs to be taught to our kids. If you just watch a normal handshake line left without coaching, the kids are going through it, especially the ones who lose with their head down, they have limp hands, there's no eye contact, and they're mumbling good game, good game.   Sometimes they don't even say it, they'll say GG stands for good game. They don't just learn character by going through the handshake line. If anything, that's going through it like that without any sort of intervention or coaching, that's malforming their character.   That's teaching them when things don't go well, that it's okay for them not to be a big boy or a big girl and look somebody in the eye and congratulate them. What needs to happen? An adult needs to step in and say, hey, as we go through the handshake line, whether you win or lose, here's how we do it with class.   We shake somebody's hand, we look them in the eye, and we say good game. Even if in those moments we don't actually mean it, we still show them dignity and honor. And then when we're done going through the handshake line, guess what we're going to do?   We're going to run down the refs who are trying to get in their car and get out of here, and we're going to give them a high five and say, thank you so much for reffing today. That stuff needs to be taught. Our kids don't just come out of the womb knowing how to do that.   We have to teach them how to do it. Sometimes good coaches will do that, but the more and more we get sucked up into the sports industrial complex, we're getting well-intentioned coaches, but we're getting coaches who care more about the big W, the win, than the character formation stuff that happens.   Ed Uszynski: (43:49 - 45:27) They need to keep hearing it over and over again. I have a ninth grade Bible study in my house the other day with athletes and a whole bunch of my son's basketball team. Exactly what Brian just said, I actually was like, wow, I've got them here.   There was a big blow up at a game the other day, and we wound up talking about it. I said, I'm going to take this opportunity actually to say what Brian just said. When you go through a handshake line, this is how you go through it.   I watched what happened in the game a couple days later. Basically, they did the exact opposite of what I told them to do, and they lost. It was just what Brian said.   They went through limp handed. They didn't look anybody in the face, and they weren't even saying anything. I just chuckled to myself, and you know how this is as a parent.   They may or may not do it. Of course, those aren't my kids. I have more stewardship over my child, who actually, he is doing what I've asked him to do because I've re-emphasized it across time now.   It's not a failure because they didn't do what I said. Again, the pouty side of me wants to be like, forget it. I'm just not even going to try anymore.   It's like, no, they're kids. That was the first time they've heard that. They're going to do what their patterns have, the muscle memory that's been created by their patterns, just like we do as adults.   The next time I have a chance to bring that up again, I'm not going to shame them. I'm just going to go over it again with them. Here's how we do it.   It's super hard to do this, guys, when you just want to be violent with people or you want to cry. You got to pull yourself together. That's what big men do.   That's what big women do in life. They pull themselves together in those moments and do the right thing.   Brian Smith: (45:28 - 46:01) You don't know whether the fifth time you say it is going to stick or the 50th time. Your responsibility as the Christ-following parent is to do it the sixth time and the seventh time and the seventh time and trust that God is going to take those moments and do what he does. We're ultimately not responsible for our kids' behavior.   We're responsible for pointing them in the right direction, and then hopefully, yeah, the Holy Spirit steps in and transforms and changes and convicts in those moments, but it might take some time.   Ed Uszynski: (46:02 - 47:47) Tom Bilyeu So that's how you push back, Laura. You were asking that. How do we push back without being just completely involved in it or going for the same ride that everybody else is going for?   There's just little moments like that scattered throughout. Literally, every day that my kids are involved in youth sports, the car ride over, what happens on the way home, how we talk about it, what happens during the game and what we wind up talking about out of that, the side conversations that happen that just get brought up apart from games of how we interact with people and so-and-so looks like they're struggling. What do you know about that?   That's how we push back, that in our corner of the bleachers, oh, how we interact with other parents. We haven't even talked about that yet, that I can take an interest in more than just my own kid in the bleachers and spend way more energy actually in cheering for other kids and just trying to give them confidence and spend way less time trying to direct that at my own child who knows that I'm there. In fact, my side kid has said he doesn't want to hear my voice during the game.   It distracts him. He's like, I'd much rather that you cheer for other people. It's like, okay.   Having questions ready for other parents during timeouts and as you sit there for hours together, what do you talk about? Well, I could be the one that actually initiates substantive conversations over time with them and asks them about what's going on in different parts of their life. And in having done that, people want to talk.   They want a safe place actually to share what's going on in their So let me be the sports minister. Let me take on that identity and actually care about other people.   Laura Dugger: (47:49 - 49:47) I love that. Even that practical idea of just coming to each game, maybe with a different question, ready to open up those conversations. And I'll share a quick story as well.   Our two oldest daughters recently just gave cheerleading a try at a local Christian school that allows homeschool kids to participate. And this is an overt way that somebody chooses the different way. So, it's the coach of the basketball team.   His name is Cole. And at the end of every game, we saw him consistently throughout this season when it was a home game, whether their team won or lost, he would ask them, okay, shut off the scoreboard. It's all blank.   He gathers both teams. As soon as the game is over teams, cheerleaders, the stands stay filled with all the parents. And he says, this is not our identity.   The world and Satan, our enemy, who's very real. He wants us to put our identity here, but it's not here. You made us better tonight by the way that you played and you were able to shine Jesus.   And we're going to go a step further and we're going to do what we call attaways. So, he's like, all right, boys, you open it up. And his team is trained.   They say to the other team, Hey, number 23, what's your name? I loved how you pushed me so much harder tonight and says, my name's Ben. And so, their Attaway is, Hey, Ben.   And everybody goes, Hey, Ben. Yeah, Ben. Yeah, Ben Attaway.   And everybody just erupts in clapping. And the other team is always blown away and they are just grinning, whether they just lost. So, the boys go through that for a while and then they open it up to the other team and they start sharing Attaways.   And then they open it up to the crowd and the parents are able to say, I see the way you modeled Jesus by being selfless with the ball or whatever it is. So, Cole said that his college coach did that many years ago and he's passed that on. And I love that's one way to redeem the game.   Ed Uszynski: (49:47 - 51:39) Wow. Beautiful. Beautiful.   Yeah. That's amazing. And, you know, I, so Brian and I talk about this too.   And I coached at a Christian school. So, we, we think that it's really important if you're going to play sports and you're going to be a Christian coach that you actually take the game seriously. And that we actually are here to compete and we are here to try to win.   There's nothing wrong with that. And we're going to pursue excellence when we show up with our bodies, and we train for this sport and we're going to try to win. Cause I think sometimes we end up kind of going all or nothing, especially within our Christian circles.   We're uncomfortable with that. And it's like, yes, do that. And on the backside of that to do what that coach did is amazing.   It's that, that is, that is exactly what we're saying. We're also going to try to form our souls in the midst of this. We're going to try to win on the scoreboard.   Okay. The game's over, we lost, we won, whatever. There's more going on here than just that. And can we access that together? And again, that's so rare. Probably everybody listening has never even heard of anything like what you just said.   It would be amazing if a bunch of people did, but that's what we're saying. Let's do more of that. Let's find ways to have more of those conversations in our sphere of influence.   Maybe we're not the coach, but we can do that in our car. We can do that when we're at dinners with the other, with other players and other team, you know, we, we can do that. We can take that kind of initiative.   If we have those categories in our mind, instead of just being frustrated that my kid didn't get to play as much tonight. And I'm that bugs me. It's like, okay, it can bug you.   And now I gotta, I gotta be a big boy and get more out of this than just being frustrated that he or she didn't get to play as much. It's hard.   Laura Dugger: (51:40 - 52:11) Absolutely. Well, and like you guys are doing having Bible studies outside of the, the team that you can instill values in that way and share scripture that they're memorizing to go out there with excellence for the Lord. So, I love all of that.   And I've got just a few quick questions, just kind of for perspective. I want to draw out something from the book. Is it true that young athletic success predicts adult athletic success?   Brian Smith: (52:13 - 53:51) It is not true. This is, this is not a hot take. This is researched back more and more research they're doing on this.   And they're finding that there's not a direct correlation between a young elite athlete and them continuing that up into the right trajectory and being an elite athlete later in life in large part, because when puberty hits, like everything is a game changer. So, this is, I found this fascinating and this is probably going to be new to you too. This just came out today.   At the time we're doing this podcast, the winter Olympics is going on in Norway. It's just like, they're killing it. Nor Norway's youth sports system.   This is wild. They give participation trophies for all the kids. They don't keep score until 13 years old.   They don't do any national travel competitions, no posting youth sports results online. So, there's no online presence of youth sport results. And their country motto is joy of sport for all.   And they're, they're killing it right now in the Olympics. So, like, that's not to say, like you got to follow their model and then you're going to win all these gold medals, but it is, there is something to just let the kids have fun. And the longer they play sport, because it's fun, the better opportunity you're actually going to have to see them blossom and develop some of these God-given gifts that they might have.   Don't expect it to come out before they're 13. Even if it does, there's no guarantee that it's going to continue on until they're 23. Just let them have fun.   Ed Uszynski: (53:52 - 55:55) Brian, we, Brian and I got to speak at a church the other day about this topic. And there was a couple that came up afterwards and they asked the question of what, so when do you think we should let our kids play organized sports or structured sports? And so again, Brian and I are careful.   Like I, there's no, there's no one size fits all answer to that. We would suggest as late as possible, wait as long as possible. Because once you start doing structured sport where there's a coach and you have to be at practices and the games are structured and there's reps, it just cuts away all the possibility they have to just play and just to go up to the YMCA and just play for three hours at whatever it is that they like to do.   And they said, well, it's encouraging to hear that they said, because we, we actually are way more into just developing their bodies physically. And so, we do dance with them, and we do rock climbing and they were kind of outdoorsy people, and they just started listing off all these things they do because we want them to become strong in their bodies, and learn to love activity like that. And I just thought, again, that's, that probably would cause a lot of people to freak out to hear that, that they have eight, nine-year-olds that aren't on teams yet.   They're just, they're training their bodies to appreciate physicality and to become coordinated and to, you know, to get better at movement. And it's like, what sport is that not going to be super helpful in five years from now, even when they're 12, 13 years old. And now they really do want to play one sport, and they do want to be on a team.   They're going to be way ahead of the kids actually that just sat on benches or stood in the outfield, you know, day after day after day at practices. Again, that's maybe hard to hear, but maybe there's some adjustments that need to be made again; to give ourselves permission to say, we don't have to get on that train right now. You don't have to, your kid's not going to be behind.   They actually could be ahead. If you do the kinds of things we just talked about.   Laura Dugger: (55:56 - 56:11) I love that. And even that example with what it looks like played out with Norway and also, do you have any other quick tips just for instilling and cultivating a heart of gratitude and youth sports rather than entitlement?   Brian Smith: (56:13 - 57:33) I'm a high school cross country and track coach, and I have kids on my team who want to get faster at running, but instead of running, they want to lift weights and they want to do plier metrics. So, there's, yes, there's a spot for that. But the way you get better at running is to run.   You got to run more miles and more miles. And I think gratitude is similar. That gratitude, part of it is a, it's a feeling, but it's also a muscle that we can flex even if we don't feel it.   And so, I would encourage parents who are trying to instill gratitude into their kids to give them practical things like, hey, after practice, just go shake your coach's hand or give them a fist bump and tell them, thanks for practice today, coach. That that's a disciplined way to practice gratitude that will hopefully build the muscle where they're, they're using it later in life. After a game, I taught my kids this when they were young and they still do it today.   Go shake a ref's hand. I mentioned this earlier, just a really, really practical way to show thankfulness and gratitude to somebody who really doesn't get a whole lot of gratitude pointed at them during a game or after a game. If anything, they have people chasing them through the parking lot for other reasons.   I want my kids to be chasing them down to give them a fist bump or a high five. And so, gratitude is something that we can just practice practically. And hopefully the discipline practice will lead to a delight and actually doing it.   Ed Uszynski: (57:34 - 59:39) And how do we cultivate an inner posture? Cause I tend to be a cup half empty type person. I'm a, I'm a whiner by nature and a continuous improvement.   There's always something wrong. And I'm, it's easy for me to find those things just as a person. I'm not even saying that as a dad or a coach or anything.   And it's been super helpful to me in the last decade, even to just like, I can choose to shift that. There, there is, there's a list of things that are broke, but there is always a list of things that are good. There's always something good here to be found.   And even as I've tried to like, again, tip the scales more in that direction, I can keep pushing that out of my kids. So, so this, you know, my ninth-grade son tends to just like, he doesn't like a whole bunch of what's going on in basketball right now. So, I keep asking him if he's having fun.   He says, no, like, why not? Or like, who did, why did you not have fun today? So, it's just the same thing every day.   I'm like, okay, who did you enjoy even being with today? Nobody. And I'm like, dude, I don't believe that actually.   I just, I don't believe that. There was somebody that you had some moment with today that you enjoyed, or you wouldn't want to keep going back up there because, and he does. So, give me a name.   Okay. Lenny. What happened with Lenny that was fun? And I make him name it. Like I'm, I'm, I'm trying to coach him through it. And sure enough, he does have some sentences of what was fun today.   And it's like, good, let's, let's at least hold onto that in the midst of all the other stuff that's not right. Let's choose to see the thing that was good and that you enjoyed and that we could be thankful for. Not everybody got to have that today.   Again, I have to have my, I have to be the parent. I have to be the discipler. I have to be in, you know, in charge of my own soul that wants to be negative all the time and say, nope, we're going to, we're going to choose gratitude today because the Bible tells us to do that.   There's something about that posture that opens the door for the gospel to be expressed through us. So, let's practice.   Laura Dugger: (59:40 - 59:50) Well said, and there's so much we could continue learning from both of you. Where can we go after this chat to learn more from each one of you?   Brian Smith: (59:52 - 1:00:14) Yeah, we do a lot of our writing online at thechristianathlete.com. And so, if you go there, you can see articles that are specifically written for parents, for coaches, for athletes, all around this idea of what does it look like to integrate faith and sport together? So, the

https://teachhoops.com/ The deterioration of fundamentals in the modern game is a direct result of the "Highlight Culture" that permeates youth and high school basketball. In an era where a player's "value" is often measured by their social media mixtape rather than their defensive win shares, the incentive structure has shifted. Players are spending thousands of hours practicing "deep threes" and "flashy handles" while ignoring the "Zero-Talent" fundamentals like boxing out, proper footwork on a closeout, and the simple chest pass. As a coach, you are fighting a battle against the "Instant Gratification" of the highlight reel. To reverse this trend, you must make fundamentals "cool" again by charting them and rewarding them with playing time, proving that the most fundamental team is almost always the last one standing in March. A major contributor to this decline is the disproportionate Game-to-Practice ratio found in many AAU circuits. When athletes play four games in a weekend but only practice once a week, they never develop the "Muscle Memory" required for elite execution. They are essentially "playing through" their mistakes rather than correcting them. This leads to "Dirty Reps"—poor shooting mechanics or lazy defensive stances that become baked into their game. To combat this, your practice environment must prioritize "High-Volume Rep Density." Instead of generic drills, utilize "Constraint-Based" teaching where players cannot move to the next segment until they demonstrate a perfect jump stop or a "two-handed" rebound. By making the "boring" basics a requirement for entry into the "fun" parts of practice, you raise the floor of your program's potential. Finally, the deterioration of fundamentals is often a failure of "Coach Clarity." If you aren't correcting a "travel" on a pivot in November, you shouldn't be surprised when it costs you a game in February. Fundamentals are "leaky"—if you don't constantly plug the holes, they will drain away. Use film study to show your players the direct link between a fundamental breakdown (like a missed box-out) and the resulting opponent basket. When players see that their "individual sloppiness" has a "team cost," they develop a sense of accountability. By doubling down on the "Basics of the Game" during the mid-season January grind, you aren't being "old school"—re-establishing these habits is a strategic advantage that will allow your team to out-execute more "talented" but less disciplined opponents. Basketball fundamentals, youth basketball development, coaching philosophy, basketball IQ, player development, footwork drills, passing mechanics, defensive stance, high school basketball, AAU basketball vs. skill work, coach development, team culture, basketball success, athletic leadership, shooting mechanics, basketball training, coaching accountability, practice rep density, coach unplugged, teach hoops, fundamental decline, modern basketball trends. SEO Keywords Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mike Jagacki is a Men's Basketball Assistant Coach at SUNY New Paltz where he helped lead the Hawks to the NCAA D3 Tournament in 2024 and to the SUNYAC Tournament in each of his 4 seasons. Prior to arriving at New Paltz, Jagacki spent 3 years as a Video Coordinator and Assistant Coach for the Women's Basketball Program at Hofstra University helping the Pride to a Semi-Final appearance in the CAA Tournament and the first Top 5 conference finish in 5 years.Before Hofstra, Mike spent time as Boys' Basketball Associate Head Coach at Combine Academy, a Post-Grad program in North Carolina. He started his career as a Boys' Basketball Assistant Coach at his alma mater, Middlesex High School in New Jersey. During this time Mike also opened his own AAU Program, TrueHoops.Jagacki is also the creator of Lockdown Defense which has amassed over 8 million views and 44,000+ subscribers on YouTube and is the author of Lockdown Defense: Developing Elite Defenders which has reached Amazon's Top 12 Best Basketball Books and has sold over 1000 copies worldwide.On this episode Mike & Mike discuss the importance of disruptive defensive strategies, particularly in the context of preparing for postseason play. Jagacki emphasizes the necessity for coaches to instill a strong foundational understanding of core defensive principles within their teams. As the playoffs approach, he advocates for a balanced approach that combines maintaining present focus, reinforcing established fundamentals, and developing tactical adjustments to counter opponents effectively. The conversation highlights the significance of designing turnovers and creating pressure, which can significantly alter the course of a game, particularly in post-season situations. Ultimately, this episode serves as a comprehensive guide for coaches seeking to enhance their team's defensive capabilities and improve overall performance during post-season matchups.If you're looking to improve your coaching please consider joining the Hoop Heads Mentorship Program. We believe that having a mentor is the best way to maximize your potential and become a transformational coach. By matching you up with one of our experienced mentors you'll develop a one on one relationship that will help your coaching, your team, your program, and your mindset. The Hoop Heads Mentorship Program delivers mentoring services to basketball coaches at all levels through our team of experienced Head Coaches. Find out more at hoopheadspod.com or shoot me an email directly mike@hoopheadspod.comMake sure you're subscribed to the Hoop Heads Pod on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts and while you're there please leave us a 5 star rating and review. Your ratings help your friends and coaching colleagues find the show. If you really love what you're hearing recommend the Hoop Heads Pod to someone and get them to join you as a part of Hoop Heads Nation.Get ready to take some notes as you listen to this episode with Mike Jagacki, Men's Basketball Assistant Coach at SUNY New Paltz.Website - https://nphawks.com/sports/mens-basketball https://www.lockdownhoops.com/Email - mikejagacki@gmail.comTwitter/X - @Mike_JagackiVisit our Sponsors!Give With HoopsGive With Hoops is a groundbreaking initiative that fuses basketball analytics with modern sponsorship. Built for teams who see data as opportunity, from AAU programs to college powerhouses. By tying on-court performance directly to community and sponsor engagement, Give With Hoops help programs raise more while deepening support from those who believe in the game.D3 Direct Recruiting PlaybookYour step-by-step guide to getting recruited as a college athlete at the NCAA Division 3 level. This course is designed by former D3 Athletes to take you from zero interest from college coaches to securing your first offer and putting you on the path to committing.The Coaching PortfolioYour first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job. A professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching achievements and philosophies and, most of all, helps separate you and your abilities from the other applicants. Special Price of just $25 for all Hoop Heads Listeners.Wealth4CoachesEmpowering athletic coaches with financial education, strategic planning, and practical tools to build lasting wealth—on and off the court.If you listen to and love the Hoop Heads Podcast, please consider giving us a small tip that will help in our quest to become the #1 basketball coaching podcast. https://hoop-heads.captivate.fm/supportTwitter/X Podcast - @hoopheadspodMike - @hdstarthoopsJason - @jsunkleInstagram@hoopheadspodFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/hoopheadspod/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDoVTtvpgwwOVL4QVswqMLQ

https://teachhoops.com/ The deterioration of fundamentals in the modern game is a direct result of the "Highlight Culture" that permeates youth and high school basketball. In an era where a player's "value" is often measured by their social media mixtape rather than their defensive win shares, the incentive structure has shifted. Players are spending thousands of hours practicing "deep threes" and "flashy handles" while ignoring the "Zero-Talent" fundamentals like boxing out, proper footwork on a closeout, and the simple chest pass. As a coach, you are fighting a battle against the "Instant Gratification" of the highlight reel. To reverse this trend, you must make fundamentals "cool" again by charting them and rewarding them with playing time, proving that the most fundamental team is almost always the last one standing in March. A major contributor to this decline is the disproportionate Game-to-Practice ratio found in many AAU circuits. When athletes play four games in a weekend but only practice once a week, they never develop the "Muscle Memory" required for elite execution. They are essentially "playing through" their mistakes rather than correcting them. This leads to "Dirty Reps"—poor shooting mechanics or lazy defensive stances that become baked into their game. To combat this, your practice environment must prioritize "High-Volume Rep Density." Instead of generic drills, utilize "Constraint-Based" teaching where players cannot move to the next segment until they demonstrate a perfect jump stop or a "two-handed" rebound. By making the "boring" basics a requirement for entry into the "fun" parts of practice, you raise the floor of your program's potential. Finally, the deterioration of fundamentals is often a failure of "Coach Clarity." If you aren't correcting a "travel" on a pivot in November, you shouldn't be surprised when it costs you a game in February. Fundamentals are "leaky"—if you don't constantly plug the holes, they will drain away. Use film study to show your players the direct link between a fundamental breakdown (like a missed box-out) and the resulting opponent basket. When players see that their "individual sloppiness" has a "team cost," they develop a sense of accountability. By doubling down on the "Basics of the Game" during the mid-season January grind, you aren't being "old school"—re-establishing these habits is a strategic advantage that will allow your team to out-execute more "talented" but less disciplined opponents. Basketball fundamentals, youth basketball development, coaching philosophy, basketball IQ, player development, footwork drills, passing mechanics, defensive stance, high school basketball, AAU basketball vs. skill work, coach development, team culture, basketball success, athletic leadership, shooting mechanics, basketball training, coaching accountability, practice rep density, coach unplugged, teach hoops, fundamental decline, modern basketball trends. SEO Keywords Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jason stands ten toes down for sports fans. Today, he takes umbrage with Stephen A. Smith blaming the fans for the influx of Europeans into the NBA, referring to the “whitening” of the game. Jason comments on Stephen A. explaining Kevin Durant's rant about AAU and European basketball. Is Stephen A. leading blocking for NBA overlords? Dre Baldwin and Jay Skapinac join Jason to discuss Smith's comments; the fact that Luka Doncic and LeBron James simply don't blend; and whether Cameron Boozer is a better prospect than Darryn Peterson. Danny Kanell and Jason cover a full spectrum of football topics from he Rooney Rule to the best college quarterbacks of the 21st century. Kanell also explains why he would pass on Kansas star Darryn Peterson. ​​Today's Sponsors: Relief Factor If you're living with daily aches and pain, Relief Factor might be the real deal for you too. Try the 3-week QuickStart today! Visit https://ReliefFactor.com or call 800-4-RELIEF. ➢ Subscribe Jason's other channel https://www.youtube.com/@JasonWhitlockHarmony  https://www.youtube.com/@JasonWhitlockBYOG  ➢ Connect with Jason on Social Media:  https://x.com/WhitlockJason https://www.instagram.com/realjasonwhitlock/ https://www.facebook.com/jasonwhitlock ➢ Send Jason an Email FearlessBlazeShow@gmail.com ➢ Support The Blaze Visit https://TheBlaze.com. Explore the all-new ad-free experience and see for yourself how we're standing up against suppression and prioritizing independent journalism. Support Conservative Voices! Subscribe to BlazeTV at https://www.fearlessmission.com and get $20 off your yearly subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://teachhoops.com/ Coaching in a rural area presents a distinct set of hurdles—smaller talent pools, limited facility access, and players who are often "multi-sport" by necessity rather than choice. However, the greatest strength of a rural program is its community identity. In a small town, the basketball team isn't just an extracurricular activity; it is the "Front Porch" of the community. To build a winning culture here, you must embrace the "Small-Town Synergy." This means working closely with other coaches in your building to share athletes rather than competing for them. When the football, basketball, and baseball coaches are aligned, you create a "year-round athlete" who is physically resilient and understands how to compete in high-pressure environments. The "what and where" of teaching in a rural setting must be extremely efficient. Because many of your players may have chores, farm responsibilities, or long commutes, you cannot afford "dead time" in your practice. You must prioritize "Multi-Skill Drills" that maximize every minute. Furthermore, because you don't have the luxury of "cutting" players to find the perfect fit, you must be a "Developer of People." Your system must be flexible enough to fit the kids you have, not the kids you wish you had. If your "Center" is a 6'1" athletic farm kid, you might need to run a "Five-Out" or "Positionless" offense rather than a traditional post-up game. Finally, a major challenge in rural coaching is the "Exposure Gap." Players in remote areas often miss out on the high-level AAU competition found in urban centers. To bridge this, you must "bring the elite environment to them." Utilize TeachHoops member calls to stay updated on modern tactical trends and use film study to show your players what collegiate-level intensity looks like. Organize "Team Travel" to college games or larger tournaments to expand their "Basketball IQ" and vision of what is possible. When you combine the "Work Ethic" inherent in rural communities with modern, high-level coaching "X's and O's," you create a program that is consistently "punching above its weight class" come playoff time. Rural basketball coaching, small school basketball, team culture, multi-sport athletes, community engagement, basketball program building, high school basketball, youth basketball, coaching philosophy, player development, basketball IQ, offensive efficiency, coach development, athletic leadership, basketball strategy, rural sports management, coach unplugged, teach hoops, basketball success, mental toughness, coaching in small towns, basketball mentorship. SEO Keywords Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode, Mike and Jason discuss the the biggest weaknesses for each of the four Eastern Conference Contenders: the Cavs, Pistons, Knicks, and Celtics. Next they breakdown the possibility that Wemby's career could surpass that of Nikola Jokic before looking at the Spurs chances of reaching this year's NBA Finals. They wrap up the pod with a quick discussion of which teams could realistically win the West.Visit our Sponsors!Give With HoopsGive With Hoops is a groundbreaking initiative that fuses basketball analytics with modern sponsorship. Built for teams who see data as opportunity, from AAU programs to college powerhouses. By tying on-court performance directly to community and sponsor engagement, Give With Hoops help programs raise more while deepening support from those who believe in the game.D3 Direct Recruiting PlaybookYour step-by-step guide to getting recruited as a college athlete at the NCAA Division 3 level. This course is designed by former D3 Athletes to take you from zero interest from college coaches to securing your first offer and putting you on the path to committing.The Coaching PortfolioYour first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job. A professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching achievements and philosophies and, most of all, helps separate you and your abilities from the other applicants. Special Price of just $25 for all Hoop Heads Listeners.Wealth4CoachesEmpowering athletic coaches with financial education, strategic planning, and practical tools to build lasting wealth—on and off the court.If you listen to and love the Hoop Heads Podcast, please consider giving us a small tip that will help in our quest to become the #1 basketball coaching podcast. https://hoop-heads.captivate.fm/supportTwitter/X Podcast - @hoopheadspodMike - @hdstarthoopsJason - @jsunkleInstagram@hoopheadspodFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/hoopheadspod/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDoVTtvpgwwOVL4QVswqMLQ

The Los Angeles Lakers NEED To Push The Panic Button according to Gilbert Arenas as Gil & The Gil's Arena Crew react to the Lakers tricking off another double digit lead to the Orlando Magic last night and discuss their concern with the purple & gold's struggles against the league's top teams. They break down how JJ Redick & the team should handle their big 3 of Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves moving forward as the superstar trio has still not figured it out on the court and continue their conversation on LeBron James' future with the team as the King is set to hit free agency this summer. Next, they react to Jonathan Kuminga making his debut with the Atlanta Hawks as the former Golden State Warrior dropped a season high 27 points in his first game since escaping the Bay Area and debate if Kuminga will make his former team pay for giving up on him early. Finally, they address Kevin Durant's comments defending USA Basketball and the AAU system as the superstar committed to represent Team USA in the 2028 olympics and fend off the European takeover of basketball before giving their takes on the NBA's plans to stop tanking as it runs rampant through the league. Today's Gil's Arena Crew : Gilbert Arenas, Josiah Johnson, Nick Young, Brandon Jennings & Kenyon Martin Gil's Arena premieres every Wednesday & Thursday at 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET. Sign up for Underdog HERE with promo code GIL and play $5 to get $75 in bonus funds or bonus entries https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-gi... If prescribed, new sexual health patients get $15 off their first order of Sparks on a recurring plan. Connect with a provider at https://ro.co/arena to find out if prescription Ro Sparks are right for you. SUBSCRIBE:    / @thearena0   Join the Underdog discord for access to exclusive giveaways and promos!   / discord   Must be 18+ (19+ in AL, NE; 19+ in CO for some games; 21+ in AZ & MA) and present in a state where Underdog Fantasy operates. Terms apply. Concerned with your play? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www.ncpgambling.org; NY: Call the 24/7 HOPEline at 1-877-8-HOPENY or Text HOPENY (467369) Show Start 0:00:00 Lakers Need To Hit The Panic Button 0:06:02 Kuminga Cooks In His Hawks Debut 0:55:20 KD Defending USA Hoops DETONATES Gil's Arena 1:20:32 Prayers Up For Chris Bosh 1:58:11 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Logan Sandate rejoins the podcast to share what's happened since her first appearance last summer. Girl Power Carolinas Flag Football launched its inaugural season in Mooresville with over 80 girls, wrapped up an eight-week fall run complete with Super Bowl rings and weekly core value awards, and has already expanded into Fort Mill, South Carolina. A Banner Elk league is on the way this summer through a partnership with Lees-McRae College coach Mike Brown. Logan has also taken on a new role as Director of Development at The Carolina Factory in Cornelius, where she's helping connect the facility's growing lineup of offerings including a brand-new girls AAU basketball team.Across everything she's building, Logan's focus remains the same: creating environments where girls can fall in love with sport without the pressure and burnout that come with early-age competitive pipelines. In 2026, she's prioritizing depth over expansion — doubling down on her Lake Norman and Fort Mill families to make sure the quality of the experience stays high. You can find Logan on Instagram at @CoachLoganSandate or through The Carolina Factory.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lake Norman's #1 Podcast & Email NewsletterThe Best of LKNhttps://thebestoflkn.com/Hosted by:Jeff Hammwww.aidawerks.comwww.lknreal.comThanks to Safe harbor Peninsula Yacht Club for their support!Support the show

College basketball recruiting has changed — and many families are still playing by old rules.In this solo episode, Ashley Roberts breaks down how the transfer portal and JUCO recruiting have shifted opportunities away from high school athletes — and what that means for your child.If you're waiting for a coach to “find” your athlete, you're already behind.Ashley explains why visibility, production, and proactive communication now matter more than ever. She walks parents through how to realistically assess their athlete's level, why D1 shouldn't be the only focus, and how to strategically reach out to college coaches in ways that actually get responses.This episode is about clarity, strategy, and helping families pursue a D-Free college experience the smart way.Episode Timestamps0:00 Navigating College Recruitment and the Importance of Visibility5:56 Finding the Right College Fit Beyond D1 Aspirations13:23 Effective Email Strategies for Reaching College Coaches15:15 Expanding College Basketball Opportunities Beyond Division One17:41 Empowering Parents to Support Young Athletes' Recruitment Journey20:21 The Importance of Production and Proactivity in Athlete Recruitment23:45 Strategies for Getting Noticed by College Coaches30:41 Navigating AAU Team Selection and College Recruitment Challenges35:36 Engage With Ashley Roberts and Enjoy Exclusive OffersAbout the HostAshley Roberts is the host of the It's Just Different Podcast and a former junior college basketball player who transferred to the University of Texas. As a basketball consultant, speaker, and founder of the Different Community, Ashley helps parents confidently navigate their athlete's basketball journey with clarity and purpose.Key Takeaways- The recruiting landscape has shifted heavily toward transfer portal and JUCO players.- Talent alone is not enough — visibility and production must work together.- Parents play a major role in helping athletes stay organized and proactive.- Expanding beyond D1 opens real scholarship and playing opportunities.- Strategic, personalized emails can dramatically improve coach response rates.- Choosing the right AAU environment matters for exposure and development.Join the Basketball Parent Community:https://www.ashleynroberts.com/communityDownload the FREE Guide (Save Time, Money & Stress):https://ashleyroberts.kit.com/subscribeGet the Basketball Parent Toolkit:https://www.ashleynroberts.com/product-page/basketball-parent-toolkitShop DIFFERENT merch (Use code Podcast for 15% off):https://itsjustdifferentapparel.com

Every once in a while, you meet an athlete whose presence doesn't match the roster listing. Someone listed at 5'11… but plays like she's 6'3. Someone who doesn't just score points — she controls possessions, shifts momentum, and changes the energy of a gym.That's Madi Hill.A Class of 2027 standout from Owasso, Oklahoma, Madi has already surpassed 1,000 career points and 500 rebounds — and she's still evolving. But what separates her isn't just production. It's leadership. It's versatility. It's edge.Madi has been around basketball her entire life, but the game truly became hers around age 12 when AAU competition changed everything. Traveling. Facing stronger opponents. Being challenged instead of comfortable. That exposure didn't intimidate her — it sharpened her. That's when she realized she didn't just like basketball. She loved it.On paper, “5'11 forward” might raise questions. On film, there are none.Madi rebounds like a true post presence — especially on the offensive glass. She embraces contact. Finishes through traffic. Competes on every possession. But she's not limiting herself to one identity. She understands the next level demands versatility. Her high school system has her playing more on the perimeter, developing ball handling, decision-making, and shooting consistency. She isn't waiting to adjust later. She's preparing now.One of the most defining traits of her game doesn't show up in a stat line — her voice.“I try to be the loudest on the floor because that's something nobody can take away from you.”That's leadership. She communicates. She encourages. She steadies tense moments. She brings energy without relying on trash talk. She leads through presence.Basketball has taught her communication, resilience, and a next-play mentality. Mistakes don't linger. Adversity doesn't define her. She resets and moves forward — a mindset that carries beyond sports.And she's not just a basketball athlete.Madi is also a standout volleyball player — a varsity MVP and all-district performer who picked up the sport in seventh grade and quickly made noise. Her explosiveness, timing, and competitiveness translate across sports. At the next level, she projects as a defensive specialist or libero — but no matter the court, the fire is the same.As recruiting begins to heat up, Madi knows exactly what she wants: culture and community. She values programs where teammates are present on visits, where locker room energy is real, and where relationships matter. Fit over flash. Culture over hype. She's open to leaving Oklahoma if the opportunity aligns — distance doesn't scare her. Growth excites her.Her foundation is strong. When asked about her superheroes, she didn't name a Marvel character — she named her parents. Ashley Thompson, Brandon Hill, and her stepparents Emily Hill and Matt Thompson. Her jersey number, 22, carries family legacy — worn by both her grandfather and father. That connection grounds her.Off the court, she values balance. She enjoys time with friends, many of whom are teammates. She tracks recovery with her Oura ring. Loves sushi from “In the Raw” in Tulsa. Creates her own pregame handshake routines. Her theme song? “I'll Wait For You” by Drake.When asked what's next, her answer was simple: play in college and trust God's plan.No theatrics. No noise. Just confidence.Madi Hill isn't just a stat line.She's a leader out of Owasso.A multi-sport competitor.A culture-first recruit.A forward evolving into a complete perimeter threat.And at 5'11, she's proving dominance isn't measured in inches.It's measured in impact.

Team USA won Olympic gold in hockey, and now the spotlight shifts to USA Basketball and the LA 2028 Olympics—can the Americans keep pace as the rest of the world closes the gap? Kevin Durant says he wants to play in 2028 and explodes at criticism of American NBA players and AAU basketball, calling it “a shot at Black Americans” and saying people are tired of them “controlling the sport.” Subscribe to Don't @ Me for daily videos and shorts: https://tr.ee/M6w2km Download the PrizePicks app today and use code DAKICH to get $50 in lineups after you plan your first $5 lineup! https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/DAKICH "(00:00) Kevin Durant on Black NBA Player Criticism" "(11:35) Responding To Viewer Comments" "(15:11) INTERVIEW with Tim Brando" "(35:27) Ryan Clark" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of the JAMODI Podcast, Coach Matt Sayman sits down with Coach Jake Garner, Head Boys Basketball Coach at Walnut Grove High School in Prosper ISD. From small-town Texas roots to opening a brand-new high school program, Coach Garner shares the leadership lessons, systems, and daily disciplines that have shaped his journey.This conversation dives deep into culture building, parent relationships, spring development, and how to balance school basketball with the realities of select/AAU in the DFW area.If you're a high school basketball coach, athletic director, or leader building something from the ground up, this episode is packed with practical takeaways.Key Topics Covered:

Caleb South is currently the Boys' Varsity Basketball Assistant Coach at Troy High School in the state of Ohio. He also is the founder of CPS Training where he has trained more than 50 D1 and D2 athletes.Caleb previously served as the Girls' Varsity Basketball Head Coach at his alma mater Bethel High School where his team won their first league title in 36 years and went 28-19 during his two seasons as the head coach. He began his coaching career at Tri Village High School as a varsity assistant.Caleb scored 1,700 points as a high school player at Bethel (OH) High School before injuries cut short his playing career which led him into coaching.On this episode Mike & Caleb discuss the significance of vulnerability in coaching, as Caleb emphasizes the importance of authenticity and the need for coaches to share their imperfections with their players. He elaborates on how fostering a culture of accountability and clear expectations can elevate the experience of high school athletes, encouraging them to embrace their roles within the team. Additionally, we dive into the transformative power of mentorship in coaching, as Caleb reflects on the influential figures in his life who have shaped his approach to both teaching and basketball. Our dialogue showcases the balance between teaching the game and nurturing personal growth, highlighting the profound impact coaches can have on their athletes' lives.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.Make sure you're subscribed to the Hoop Heads Pod on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and while you're there please leave us a 5 star rating and review. Your ratings help your friends and coaching colleagues find the show. If you really love what you're hearing recommend the Hoop Heads Pod to someone and get them to join you as a part of Hoop Heads Nation.Have a notebook handy as you listen to this episode with Caleb South, Boys' Basketball Assistant Coach at Troy High School and Founder of CPS Training.Website - https://www.cps-training.com/Email - southcaleb3@gmail.comTwitter/X - @CpsTrainingVisit our Sponsors!Give With HoopsGive With Hoops is a groundbreaking initiative that fuses basketball analytics with modern sponsorship. Built for teams who see data as opportunity, from AAU programs to college powerhouses. By tying on-court performance directly to community and sponsor engagement, Give With Hoops help programs raise more while deepening support from those who believe in the game.D3 Direct Recruiting PlaybookYour step-by-step guide to getting recruited as a college athlete at the NCAA Division 3 level. This course is designed by former D3 Athletes to take you from zero interest from college coaches to securing your first offer and putting you on the path to committing.The Coaching PortfolioYour first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job. A professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching achievements and philosophies and, most of all, helps separate you...

The slimmed-down crew is back in the building this week! We kick things off by catching up on life, AAU basketball media days, and the incredible experience of shooting our first official comedy specials right here at the club. Then, we get into the wild stuff—we call out Target for their questionable Black History Month merch and spark a hilarious debate on the different "vibes" at Houston grocery stores (H-E-B vs. Target vs. Whole Foods). We also dive deep into relationship dynamics, debating if 35 is truly a man's prime, whether you'd pass a lie detector test for your partner, and why the dating pool is shrinking. Plus, we salute J. Cole for his brilliant grassroots marketing run and close out the show with an important conversation on men's mental health. Follow the crew: @ThePourHorsemen @ShyThugg | @HardbodyKiotti | @Phi1TheDon | @LebronaldPalmer I @yo.dj.silk I @armourie.official Production Crew @TheJohnSims | @1Kharyy Shot at @TheHiveHouston Hurt At Work? Contact our partners at https://crockett.law for all of your legal needs. @bankonbriantx is ready to help. Join our Patreon for more exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/thepourhorsemen By supporting us, you're not just a listener but a valued part of our community. Use our Code POUR at Bluechew.com for your discount. Follow The Pour Horsemen on Instagram @thepourhorsemen and email at thepourhorsemen@gmail.com. Chapters: 00:00 - Intro: 06:42 - Taping Official Comedy Specials at The Hive 12:06 - Target's "Questionable" Black History Month Gear 14:07 - The Houston Grocery Store Draft 19:30 - Is 35 a Man's Prime? 24:34 - The Clifton Powell Debate 28:16 - Dating, Honesty & The "Lie Detector" Test 41:29 - J. Cole's "The Fall Off" Guerrilla Marketing 45:18 - Men's Mental Health Awareness 49:45 - Outro: The Shrinking Dating Pool & Lowering Standards #ThePourHorsemen #Podcast #Houston #TheHive #JCole #Relationships #MensMentalHealth #HEB

In this episode of the JAMODI Podcast, Coach Matt Sayman sits down with Coach Jake Garner, Head Boys Basketball Coach at Walnut Grove High School in Prosper ISD. From small-town Texas roots to opening a brand-new high school program, Coach Garner shares the leadership lessons, systems, and daily disciplines that have shaped his journey.This conversation dives deep into culture building, parent relationships, spring development, and how to balance school basketball with the realities of select/AAU in the DFW area.If you're a high school basketball coach, athletic director, or leader building something from the ground up, this episode is packed with practical takeaways.Key Topics Covered:

Andrew Spalter is the Founder and CEO of East Goes Global, an international operating partner that helps the world's leading teams, talent, and brands expand, operate, and monetize across global markets.East Goes Global serves as the international operating partner for over 20% of the NBA, supporting teams including the Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, and New Orleans Pelicans, as well as a roster of elite NBA talent spanning multiple eras of the league from legends like Dwyane Wade and Tracy McGrady to today's international superstars, including Kevin Durant, Luka Dončić, Cooper Flagg, Devin Booker, Jalen Brunson, and many others.On this episode Mike & Andrew discuss how NBA players, such as Cooper Flagg and Dwyane Wade, can effectively penetrate diverse international markets and the critical importance of cultural relevance in the global marketing of sports talent. Just being a prominent figure in the NBA is insufficient; a deeper understanding and connection to local cultures and languages significantly enhance an athlete's marketability. We also explore the operational dynamics of East Goes Global, which serves as a vital link between NBA teams and international markets, facilitating partnerships and marketing strategies that resonate with local audiences. Spalter emphasizes the necessity of adaptability and cultural insight in the pursuit of global brand expansion within the competitive landscape of professional sports.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.Make sure you're subscribed to the Hoop Heads Pod on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and while you're there please leave us a 5 star rating and review. Your ratings help your friends and coaching colleagues find the show. If you really love what you're hearing recommend the Hoop Heads Pod to someone and get them to join you as a part of Hoop Heads Nation.Grab pen and paper as you listen to this episode with Andrew Spalter, CEO of East Goes Global.Website - https://www.eastgoesglobal.com/Email - andrew@eastgoesglobal.comInstagram - @eastgoesglobalVisit our Sponsors!Give With HoopsGive With Hoops is a groundbreaking initiative that fuses basketball analytics with modern sponsorship. Built for teams who see data as opportunity, from AAU programs to college powerhouses. By tying on-court performance directly to community and sponsor engagement, Give With Hoops help programs raise more while deepening support from those who believe in the game.D3 Direct Recruiting PlaybookYour step-by-step guide to getting recruited as a college athlete at the NCAA Division 3 level. This course is designed by former D3 Athletes to take you from zero interest from college coaches to securing your first offer and putting you on the path to committing.The Coaching PortfolioYour first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job. A professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your...

On this episode, Mike and Jason discuss the highs and lows of NBA All-Star weekend including the unexpected early start times, the lack of stars in the dunk contest, participants who haven't played this season (Dame this year/Mac McClung last year), Wemby bringing the intensity, Kawhi's 31, KAT's help defense, the USA vs World, the 4 "games" format, and the one tanking question that the NBA has to answer moving forward.Visit our Sponsors!Give With HoopsGive With Hoops is a groundbreaking initiative that fuses basketball analytics with modern sponsorship. Built for teams who see data as opportunity, from AAU programs to college powerhouses. By tying on-court performance directly to community and sponsor engagement, Give With Hoops help programs raise more while deepening support from those who believe in the game.D3 Direct Recruiting PlaybookYour step-by-step guide to getting recruited as a college athlete at the NCAA Division 3 level. This course is designed by former D3 Athletes to take you from zero interest from college coaches to securing your first offer and putting you on the path to committing.The Coaching PortfolioYour first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job. A professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching achievements and philosophies and, most of all, helps separate you and your abilities from the other applicants. Special Price of just $25 for all Hoop Heads Listeners.Wealth4CoachesEmpowering athletic coaches with financial education, strategic planning, and practical tools to build lasting wealth—on and off the court.If you listen to and love the Hoop Heads Podcast, please consider giving us a small tip that will help in our quest to become the #1 basketball coaching podcast. https://hoop-heads.captivate.fm/supportTwitter/X Podcast - @hoopheadspodMike - @hdstarthoopsJason - @jsunkleInstagram@hoopheadspodFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/hoopheadspod/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDoVTtvpgwwOVL4QVswqMLQ

About the Guest(s):Andre Lewis is a seasoned basketball coach and director with nearly 20 years of experience. He has played a pivotal role in developing young athletes and helping them pursue opportunities in higher education and professional basketball. Throughout his career, Andre has contributed significantly to the basketball community, mentoring standout players during critical developmental years and guiding families through the ever-changing AAU landscape.Episode Summary:In this episode of It's Just Different, host Ashley Roberts sits down with Andre Lewis to unpack the modern state of AAU basketball.What was once centered around development has shifted toward a more transactional and commercialized model. From NIL conversations to exposure-driven decisions, today's youth basketball environment demands strategy, clarity, and long-term thinking.Andre shares nearly two decades of insight into how parents should approach club selection, why eighth grade is a pivotal year, and how to balance skill development with exposure. He also addresses one of the biggest myths in youth basketball — that only top-tier teams create college opportunities.This episode is a must-listen for parents navigating the AAU journey and athletes looking to stand out in a crowded recruiting landscape.Key Takeaways:AAU basketball has shifted toward a more transactional model.Parents should begin thinking strategically about club alignment by eighth grade.Development must come before exposure.Athletes don't have to be on elite teams to earn opportunities.Strong community and communication matter more than ever in the transfer portal era.Resources for Basketball ParentsJoin the Basketball Parent Community:https://www.ashleynroberts.com/communityDownload the FREE Guide (Save Time, Money & Stress):https://ashleyroberts.kit.com/subscribeGet the Basketball Parent Toolkit:https://www.ashleynroberts.com/produc...Shop DIFFERENT merch (Use code Podcast for 15% off):https://itsjustdifferentapparel.com

Deahna Joi is a holistic financial wellness strategist, seasoned accountant, grant writer, author, and 12-year yogi who brings heart and healing to every budget. With 17 years in accounting and a grant-writing journey that began with scholarship applications in high school, she's helped individuals and organizations unlock funding, rewrite money stories, and build financial legacies. As the founder of Deahna Joi LLC and the joyful & educational brand Budgets by Joi, her mission is deeply personal—her parents gave her the middle name Joi, and she's made it her purpose to bring that same joy into finances. As former Girl Scout Leader, and AAU girls basketball coach, and seeing majority girls continue to college she aspired to help in the best way she knew how. Through soulful money guidance, she merges numbers and mindfulness to help people feel empowered, not overwhelmed. A third-generation entrepreneur and proud auntie, Deahna Joi builds out financial literacy programs for nonprofits and communities, integrating trauma-informed education, operational clarity, and mindset shifts that heal financial trauma and restore confidence. Whether in workshops, speaking, project budget, curriculum development, or one-on-one coaching, she leads with compassion and clarity—what she calls “mindful money moments.” Her work helps others take stable steps toward sustainable wealth, generational change, and a deeper sense of peace. She believes your finances shouldn't just be a part of everyday life, it should be a normal part of everyday conversation. Tune in to hear how Deahna leveraged her corporate experience to launch herself into entrepreneurship and a successful business.  Connect with Deahna  LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/deahnamoore/ Budgets By Joi https://www.budgetsbyjoi.com/

Welcome to the 86th edition of the Coach's Corner Round Table on the Hoop Heads Podcast. Each episode of the Coach's Corner Round Table will feature our All-Star lineup of guests answering a single basketball question. A new Coach's Corner Round Table will drop around the 15th of each month.February's Round Table question is: How do you make sure your culture shows up when you're not in the gym?Our Coaching Lineup this month:Jerry Buckley – Bishop Kenny (FL) High SchoolStephen Halstead – Grace CollegeChris Hicks – Midwest Basketball Club & Bleacher ProspectBob Krizancic – Mentor (OH) HighDave McGreal – Penn State AltoonaMichael Rejniak – We Are D3Chris Richardson – Wheeling UniversityDon Showalter - USA BasketballPlease enjoy this Round Table episode of the Hoop Heads Podcast and once you're finished listening please give the show a five star rating and review after you subscribe on your favorite podcast app.Be sure to follow us on twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.Visit our Sponsors!Give With HoopsGive With Hoops is a groundbreaking initiative that fuses basketball analytics with modern sponsorship. Built for teams who see data as opportunity, from AAU programs to college powerhouses. By tying on-court performance directly to community and sponsor engagement, Give With Hoops help programs raise more while deepening support from those who believe in the game.D3 Direct Recruiting PlaybookYour step-by-step guide to getting recruited as a college athlete at the NCAA Division 3 level. This course is designed by former D3 Athletes to take you from zero interest from college coaches to securing your first offer and putting you on...

Title: Building the Whole Athlete: 210 United Basketball with Coaches William Collins and Alexis WilliamsDescription: In this episode of I Am Refocused Radio, host Shemaiah Reed sits down with Coach William Collins (Head Coach of 210 United Basketball) and Coach Alexis Williams (Head Coach of the Women's Varsity team) to discuss their transformative approach to youth sports in San Antonio. Moving beyond just drills and jump shots, the 210 United program focuses on "building the whole athlete"—mind, body, and soul. Coach Collins reveals how the program has expanded to include free mentoring services, community outreach, and even legal representation for athletes navigating NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals through a partnership with Zion Sports Agency. Coach Alexis Williams shares her passion for the rising platform of women's basketball and the importance of creating a "safe space" for young athletes to grow both on and off the court. Whether you are a parent looking for a program with high standards and low costs, or an athlete ready to find your "Midwest swag" in Texas, this conversation highlights why 210 United is more than just a team—it's a family. Key highlights include:Details on upcoming Girls' Tryouts and how to join the program.The importance of mentorship and character building in modern youth sports.Advice for athletes on managing social media and staying "recruitable."The philosophy of "getting back to basics" to ensure players succeed at the college level.Connect with 210 United:Website: 210united.comSocial Media: @210United on Facebook, Instagram, and X.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/i-am-refocused-radio--2671113/support.Subscribe now at YouTube.com/@RefocusedNetworkThank you for your time. 

On this week's episode of ‘The Young Man and the Three', we welcome Noah Clowney, Danny Wolf, Egor Dёmin, and Drake Powell of the Brooklyn Nets. The group discusses the Nets young roster and their mindsets and approach to this season, each of their backstories playing AAU, overseas, and college (including a great discussion about how NCAA basketball is changing), stories from their draft nights, standout moments from their young NBA careers so far (including Danny's viral moments getting sh*t talked by Jimmy Butler and Kevin Durant), and so much more. Let's go!00:00 Intro0:48 Show start2:45 Egor on Moscow Academy and Real Madrid6:45 European style of basketball11:50 Drake growing up, going to UNC13:30 AAU experiences18:30 Danny at Yale and Michigan21:50 Noah on Alabama24:00 Changes in college and NIL28:40 Egor on BYU34:19 Everyone's draft nights43:40 Biggest differences in NBA v college49:45 Mindset on the Nets this season and dealing with losing54:55 Wow moments and welcome the NBA moments1:01:15 Adjusting to NBA defenses1:03:30 Lessons they'd give to younger selvesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jordan Stasyszyn and Alexa Barbush run Unleashed Potential, a skill development program based in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.Jordan is Carlisle High Schools fourth all-time leading scorer with over 1,600 points and a Big 15 Selection. He played Division 1 basketball at Fairleigh Dickinson before transferring to play at Shippensburg University, where he graduated from with a Bachelors in Communications and Public Relations. He furthered his education by completing his Masters from LaSalle University in Professional and Business Communication.Alexa was an All-State and Big 15 Selection at Trinity High School. She played at Franklin & Marshall College where she compiled an impressive list of achievements. She was named a 2x D3 All-American, 2x Preseason All-American, Centennial Conference Player of the year, and scored 1,486 points. She graduated with a bachelors in Psychology. She also coached at Dickinson College for a year as an assistant coach.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.Make sure you're subscribed to the Hoop Heads Pod on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and while you're there please leave us a 5 star rating and review. Your ratings help your friends and coaching colleagues find the show. If you really love what you're hearing recommend the Hoop Heads Pod to someone and get them to join you as a part of Hoop Heads Nation.You'll want to take some notes as you listen to this episode with Jordan Stasyszyn & Alexa Barbush from Unleashed Potential in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.Website - https://www.unleashed717.com/Email - stasyszynj14@gmail.comTwitter/X - @unleashed717 @jstas717 @abarbush5Visit our Sponsors!Give With HoopsGive With Hoops is a groundbreaking initiative that fuses basketball analytics with modern sponsorship. Built for teams who see data as opportunity, from AAU programs to college powerhouses. By tying on-court performance directly to community and sponsor engagement, Give With Hoops help programs raise more while deepening support from those who believe in the game.D3 Direct Recruiting PlaybookYour step-by-step guide to getting recruited as a college athlete at the NCAA Division 3 level. This course is designed by former D3 Athletes to take you from zero interest from college coaches to securing your first offer and putting you on the path to committing.The Coaching PortfolioYour first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job. A professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching achievements and philosophies and, most of all, helps separate you and your abilities from the other applicants. Special Price of just $25 for all Hoop Heads Listeners.Wealth4CoachesEmpowering athletic coaches with financial education,...

https://teachhoops.com/ The debate over youth player rankings in the AAU circuit is one of the most polarizing topics in modern basketball development. On one hand, proponents argue that rankings provide exposure and a competitive benchmark, helping talented athletes get on the radar of college recruiters earlier than ever before. For a player in a rural area or a non-traditional basketball market, a high ranking from a reputable scouting service can be the "digital resume" that opens doors to elite camps and scholarship opportunities. However, the "Helpful" side of the ledger often ignores the reality that early physical maturity is frequently mistaken for long-term elite potential, leading to a "false positive" ranking for a player who has simply hit their growth spurt sooner than their peers. The "Harmful" perspective focuses on the psychological and developmental "Rot" that occurs when 12- and 13-year-olds are labeled as "elite" before they've even entered high school. Rankings often incentivize "stat-padding" and individualistic play over the development of "Basketball IQ" and fundamental team concepts. When a young player is more concerned with their "National Top 100" status than winning a game or making the "extra pass," the foundational "Culture of the Game" begins to erode. Furthermore, being ranked early can lead to a "fixed mindset"—a belief that they have already "made it"—which often results in a plateau in work ethic during the critical developmental years of 14 to 17. Ultimately, the impact of rankings depends heavily on the parental and coaching ecosystem surrounding the athlete. If a ranking is treated as a "Starting Line" rather than a "Finish Line," it can be a tool for motivation. However, in the high-pressure environment of "shoe-circuit" AAU tournaments, rankings often serve as a distraction from true skill acquisition. Use your TeachHoops member calls to discuss how to navigate these "Ranking Waters" with your players and parents. By shifting the focus back to "Process over Praise," you can ensure that your athletes stay grounded, hungry, and focused on the only ranking that truly matters: their progress compared to the player they were yesterday. AAU basketball, youth player rankings, basketball recruiting, player development, high school basketball, youth basketball, basketball scouting, basketball IQ, coaching philosophy, team culture, athletic exposure, sports psychology, youth sports development, college basketball recruiting, shoe circuit, basketball camps, elite athletes, fixed mindset vs growth mindset, coach unplugged, teach hoops, basketball success, athletic leadership, basketball mentorship, middle school basketball, basketball talent identification. SEO Keywords Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode, Mike and Jason discuss James Harden's first two games a Cleveland Cavalier which included wins over the Kings and Nuggets. Next, they dive into the Pistons-Hornets Brawl in Charlotte and wonder how long Beef Stew will be suspended. After that, Mike and Jason make predictions for All-Star Saturday night and share their thoughts on this year's All-Star Game format. Finally, they talk tank-a-thon and what the NBA might be able to do stop teams from losing on purpose.Visit our Sponsors!Give With HoopsGive With Hoops is a groundbreaking initiative that fuses basketball analytics with modern sponsorship. Built for teams who see data as opportunity, from AAU programs to college powerhouses. By tying on-court performance directly to community and sponsor engagement, Give With Hoops help programs raise more while deepening support from those who believe in the game.D3 Direct Recruiting PlaybookYour step-by-step guide to getting recruited as a college athlete at the NCAA Division 3 level. This course is designed by former D3 Athletes to take you from zero interest from college coaches to securing your first offer and putting you on the path to committing.The Coaching PortfolioYour first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job. A professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching achievements and philosophies and, most of all, helps separate you and your abilities from the other applicants. Special Price of just $25 for all Hoop Heads Listeners.Wealth4CoachesEmpowering athletic coaches with financial education, strategic planning, and practical tools to build lasting wealth—on and off the court.If you listen to and love the Hoop Heads Podcast, please consider giving us a small tip that will help in our quest to become the #1 basketball coaching podcast. https://hoop-heads.captivate.fm/supportTwitter/X Podcast - @hoopheadspodMike - @hdstarthoopsJason - @jsunkleInstagram@hoopheadspodFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/hoopheadspod/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDoVTtvpgwwOVL4QVswqMLQ

About the GuestMichael “Leftymike” Simmons is a respected basketball evaluator and director with deep roots in grassroots and advanced basketball. Known for his honesty and credibility, Leftymike brings experience as a coach, trainer, and national ranking evaluator. His work with AAU programs and athlete exposure makes him a trusted voice for parents, players, and coaches navigating the modern basketball landscape.Episode SummaryAshley is joined by Michael “Leftymike” Simmons for a real conversation about how AAU basketball has evolved — and what that means for today's athletes and families. From shifting loyalty and an overload of program options to the realities of rankings and recruitment, this episode breaks down what actually matters in player development.Leftymike shares insight into how athletes are evaluated beyond hype, why production and translatable skills matter more than ever, and how parents can better support their child's journey without chasing every opportunity. The discussion also highlights the importance of mentality, versatility, and finding the right fit at the college level.If you're navigating AAU basketball, rankings, or college recruitment, this episode offers clarity in a space that's often confusing.Key Takeaways- AAU basketball has shifted culturally, impacting loyalty and competitiveness- Too many options can reduce accountability if families aren't intentional- Rankings should reflect production and skills that translate to the college game- Development matters just as much as exposure- Mentality, versatility, and fit are key factors in college recruitment- Parents play a major role in navigating expectations and long-term successResources for Basketball ParentsJoin the Basketball Parent Community:https://www.ashleynroberts.com/communityDownload the FREE Guide (Save Time, Money & Stress):https://ashleyroberts.kit.com/subscribeGet the Basketball Parent Toolkit:https://www.ashleynroberts.com/product-page/basketball-parent-toolkitShop DIFFERENT merch (Use code Podcast for 15% off):https://itsjustdifferentapparel.com

Chris Hicks is the operations manager for Midwest Basketball Club in the state of Ohio. He also serves as the Event Director for Bleacher Prospects, which specializes in covering all levels of High School and AAU basketball while providing exposure for young athletes across the Midwest.On this episode Mike & Chris discuss the vital role of advocacy in the development of young players and the need for dedicated support systems that empower youth players to navigate their athletic journeys effectively. Throughout the discussion, we delve into the intricacies of player evaluation, recruitment strategies, and the collaborative efforts required between coaches, parents, and players to foster an environment conducive to growth. Hicks emphasizes the importance of character and academic performance as paramount factors influencing recruitment opportunities. Ultimately, this episode serves as a comprehensive exploration of the dynamics within grassroots basketball, underscoring the transformative potential of effective mentorship and guidance in shaping the future of aspiring athletes.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.Make sure you're subscribed to the Hoop Heads Pod on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and while you're there please leave us a 5 star rating and review. Your ratings help your friends and coaching colleagues find the show. If you really love what you're hearing recommend the Hoop Heads Pod to someone and get them to join you as a part of Hoop Heads Nation.You'll want to take a few notes as you listen to this episode with Chris Hicks, operations manager for Midwest Basketball Club and the Event Director for Bleacher Prospects.Website - https://midwestbasketballclub.com/ https://bleacherprospect.com/Email - chris.g.hicks.74@gmail.comTwitter/X - @ChrisHicks513Visit our Sponsors!Dr. Dish BasketballA Perfect Gift To Your Team for the Holidays!Score Big on Dr. Dish Basketball's End of Year Sale and give your team the gift of extra, more efficient reps this season!

Lukas and Lorenzo nerdout about Stranger Things, bingeing, growing audience then they get into NCIS, final Maumee game, Maull Maumee, AAU basketball, lacrosse as a senior, volleyball, Joe Seney, Military, buddy system, Air National Guard, listen to Mom, coaching football, moving to Bowling Green, finding purpose, BMT 2.0, HUA, guard with friends, missing life events, DECA, Jim Leyland, Kevin Walsh, Jacket sport network and so much more!

On this episode, Mike and Jason discuss the James Harden for Darius Garland trade between the Clippers and Cavaliers. They try to wrap their heads around why the Cavs would trade for Harden, their ceiling with Harden on the team, and if the Cavs can somehow pull off another trade for Giannis.Visit our Sponsors!Dr. Dish BasketballA Perfect Gift To Your Team for the Holidays!Score Big on Dr. Dish Basketball's End of Year Sale and give your team the gift of extra, more efficient reps this season!

About the GuestJoey Simmons is a veteran basketball coach with over 30 years of experience developing young athletes. Throughout his career, Joey has coached with respected programs such as Texas Elite and Team Lex, helping countless players advance to the collegiate level. Known for his honest, no-nonsense approach, Joey brings clarity to the often confusing world of AAU basketball, exposure, and player development.Episode SummaryIn this episode of It's Just Different, host Ashley Roberts sits down with longtime basketball coach Joey Simmons to break down what parents truly need to understand about youth basketball and AAU programs.Joey shares how the youth basketball landscape has changed over the years — from early exposure and rankings to the rising pressure placed on young athletes. He explains why development should come before exposure, how parents can avoid costly mistakes when choosing AAU teams, and why chasing circuit teams too early can do more harm than good.This conversation is a must-listen for basketball parents navigating AAU decisions, recruiting timelines, and long-term player growth.Key Takeaways- Development should be prioritized over exposure at younger ages- Not every athlete needs a circuit team to play college basketball- Early rankings and reclassing often create unnecessary pressure- Parents should research clubs carefully before committing- Playing the long game leads to better opportunities down the roadResources for Basketball ParentsJoin the Basketball Parent Community:https://www.ashleynroberts.com/communityDownload the FREE Guide (Save Time, Money & Stress):https://ashleyroberts.kit.com/subscribeGet the Basketball Parent Toolkit:https://www.ashleynroberts.com/product-page/basketball-parent-toolkitShop DIFFERENT merch (Use code Podcast for 15% off):https://itsjustdifferentapparel.com

The 23rd edition of “The Triple Double” with Rob Brost, Bolingbrook (IL) High School Boys' Basketball Head Coach. Rob, Mike, & Jason hit on three basketball topics in each episode of “The Triple Double”.The best lesson Rob ever learned from a playerWhat's something Rob believed in strongly as a young coach that he's completely changed his mind on?If Rob's team could only be elite at just one thing to win games, what would it be?Website - https://il.8to18.com/bolingbrook/athletics/basketball/b/vEmail - raidershoops@comcast.netTwitter - @BrookHoopsVisit our Sponsors!Dr. Dish BasketballA Perfect Gift To Your Team for the Holidays!Score Big on Dr. Dish Basketball's End of Year Sale and give your team the gift of extra, more efficient reps this season!

In this episode of Inside the Lines, Curt Conrad and Effie James welcome Mansfield Senior sophomore Kaylen Brooks into the studio for a wide-ranging conversation that starts with remembering former Lexington coach Steve Gray and touches on Effie’s new podcast, Beyond the Scoreboard. Kaylen reflects on stepping into varsity basketball as a freshman and setting a program record with 299 points, the differences between AAU and high school basketball, and how a summer spent in the weight room helped him take the next step as a sophomore. He breaks down the chemistry of this year’s Tyger team, navigating adversity -- including a triple-overtime thriller against Ashland -- and what it means to already have his first college offer from Youngstown State. The episode wraps with rapid-fire questions and Kaylen’s vision for a storybook ending to the season. This episode is brought to you by Graham Auto Mall. Intro and outro music is "Story of the Sunflower Samurai" by local artist Vaundoom. Be a Source Member for unlimited access to local journalism. Find our high school sports page here to read more local coverage. Support the show: https://richlandsource.com/membersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode, Mike and Jason look back at the Eastern Conference preseason over/unders and discuss each East team as the season heads toward the All-Star Game in two weeks.Visit our Sponsors!Dr. Dish BasketballA Perfect Gift To Your Team for the Holidays!Score Big on Dr. Dish Basketball's End of Year Sale and give your team the gift of extra, more efficient reps this season!

About the HostAshley Roberts is the host of the “It's Just Different” Podcast and a former junior college basketball player who began her collegiate journey at South Plains Junior College before transferring to the University of Texas. Now a basketball consultant, speaker, and founder of the Different Community, Ashley uses her platform to educate and empower parents navigating their athlete's basketball journey.Episode SummaryAAU tryout season can feel overwhelming — and parents often feel pressure to chase exposure at all costs. In this episode, Ashley breaks down what really matters when choosing an AAU basketball program.Ashley explains why attending multiple tryouts is critical, how to evaluate coaching beyond name recognition, and why development should always come before exposure. She discusses the hidden risks of burnout, the importance of confidence in athlete performance, and how highlight tapes fit into the recruiting puzzle.Through practical advice and firsthand experience, this episode gives parents a clear framework for choosing the right AAU fit — one that supports both athletic growth and long-term success.Key Takeaways- Choose the right fit, not just the biggest name- Development matters more than exposure — especially early- Playing grade level can often lead to better growth- Confidence plays a major role in performance and recruiting- Parents should ask coaches direct, intentional questions Resources for Basketball ParentsJoin the Basketball Parent Community:https://www.ashleynroberts.com/communityDownload the FREE Guide (Save Time, Money & Stress):https://ashleyroberts.kit.com/subscribeGet the Basketball Parent Toolkit:https://www.ashleynroberts.com/product-page/basketball-parent-toolkitShop DIFFERENT merch (Use code *Podcast* for 15% off):https://itsjustdifferentapparel.com

Send us a textYou can have the skills. You can have the mental game. And you can STILL get passed over.Not because you're not good enough but because you didn't understand the business.In this episode, I break down Game 3 of basketball: The Business. The piece that determines if your skills ever get SEEN.This is the final episode in my 3 Games of Basketball series, and it's the game nobody teaches you.IN THIS EPISODE:Why I never played AAU (and how it cost me my career)Branding: What actually matters vs social media hypeHow to build character that opens doorsThe 4 ways to earn your coach's trust on the courtThe politics of basketball (boosters, favoritism, the unfair reality)AAU: Development vs Exposure - Which team do you actually need?How to find the right AAU teamRecruiting timeline: When you need to start (it's earlier than you think)What to do if you're already behindTHE 3 GAMES OF BASKETBALL:Game 1: Skills and Body (Episode 2)Game 2: Mental Game (Episode 3)Game 3: The Business (This Episode)Master all three. That's the blueprint.Chapters00:00 INTRO02:08 EARNING TRUST OFF COURT08:56 EARNING TRUST ON COURT17:36 AAU: DEVELOPMENT VS EXPOSURE26:56 CLOSURE27:58 YOUR CHALLENGETHIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE:Figure out which type of team you need - Development or exposure? Be honest.Make one move to build your character - Help your coach, thank a teammate, show up early.Ask yourself: Am I making people's lives easier or harder?PREVIOUS EPISODES:

The New York Knicks Downward Spiral FIRES UP Gil's Arena as Gilbert Arenas & The Gil's Arena Crew react to the Knicks' calling a players only meeting following their worst loss of the season and break down their response after the team fired off a 54 point win over the Brooklyn Nets, led by Jalen Brunson. They discuss what the Knicks need to do to improve to take advantage of the weak Eastern Conference, sparking a debate on if they need to trade Karl Anthony Towns and go after big names like Giannis Antetokounmpo. Speaking of the Greek Freak, the Gil's Arena Crew reacts to Giannis calling out his Milwaukee Bucks' teammates following their embarassing loss to the OKC Thunder and discuss when enough will be enough for Giannis as he may force his way out of Milwaukee sooner rather than later. They then break down the OKC side of the ball where Shai Gilgeous Alexander continued his bid for back to back NBA MVP awards before remincing on Kobe Bryant's 81 point game on the 20th anniversary of the Black Mamba's historic game. Finally, they react to Isaiah Thomas' take on the current state of the NBA and give their thoughts on proper ettiquette in AAU games when blowing out a team. PLEASE give us a Like and Subscribe!! Today's Gil's Arena Crew : Gilbert Arenas, Josiah Johnson, Rashad McCants, Nick Young, & Brandon Jennings Gil's Arena premieres every Wednesday & Thursday at 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET. Sign up for Underdog HERE with promo code GIL and play $5 to get $75 in bonus funds or bonus entries https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-gi... SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAvj... Join the Underdog discord for access to exclusive giveaways and promos! https://discord.gg/underdog Must be 18+ (19+ in AL, NE; 19+ in CO for some games; 21+ in AZ & MA) and present in a state where Underdog Fantasy operates. Terms apply. Concerned with your play? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www.ncpgambling.org; NY: Call the 24/7 HOPEline at 1-877-8-HOPENY or Text HOPENY (467369) 2 Min Countdown 0:00:00 Show Start 0:01:35 Giannis Calls Out His Bucks' Teammates 0:08:29 Shai Is Pushing For Back To Back MVPs 0:47:22 The Knicks Save Their Downward Spiral 1:06:09 How It Feels To Lose By 50 1:14:32 Mike Brown Hugs Draymond After A Loss 1:24:49 Gil's Arena Celebrates The 20th Annivesary of Kobe's 81 1:35:15 MostlyFans 1:51:51 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Luka Doncic Is CEMENTED As The Face Of The Los Angeles Lakers according to Gilbert Arenas as Gil & The Gil's Arena Crew react to Jeanie Buss releasing a scathing hit piece on LeBron James & her reasoning to sell the historic franchise and break down the team's win over the Denver Nuggets where Luka once again put the team on his back with a triple double. They also break down LeBron's comments on the NBA All Star Game and give their take on Victor Wembanyama pushing other All Stars to play hard in this season's all star game to improve the product and prove that international players are taking over the NBA. Next, they react to Jonathan Kuminga escaping the dog house as the Golden State Warriors star finally got some action following the injury to Jimmy Butler and took the most of his opportunity by dropping 20 on the Toronto Raptors. They break down how this performance changes things for the disgruntled superstar as he still demands a trade and sparks a debate over whether or not the Warriors dynasty went down alongside Jimmy Butler. Finally, they react to Isaiah Thomas' take on the current state of the NBA and give their thoughts on proper ettiquette in AAU games when blowing out a team. PLEASE give us a Like and Subscribe!! Today's Gil's Arena Crew : Gilbert Arenas, Josiah Johnson, Rashad McCants, Nick Young, Brandon Jennings & Kenyon Martin Gil's Arena premieres every Wednesday & Thursday at 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET. Sign up for Underdog HERE with promo code GIL and play $5 to get $75 in bonus funds or bonus entries https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-gi... SUBSCRIBE:    / @thearena0   Join the Underdog discord for access to exclusive giveaways and promos!   / discord   Must be 18+ (19+ in AL, NE; 19+ in CO for some games; 21+ in AZ & MA) and present in a state where Underdog Fantasy operates. Terms apply. Concerned with your play? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www.ncpgambling.org; NY: Call the 24/7 HOPEline at 1-877-8-HOPENY or Text HOPENY (467369) 2 Min Timer 0:00:00 Show Start 0:01:45 Kuminga Balls Out After Leaving The Dog House 0:06:01 The Warriors Are Backing Out Of Trading Kuminga 0:20:52 Did Jimmy Butler's Injury Kill The Warriors Dynasty 0:36:29 Lakers Rally To Take Down The Nuggets 0:48:54 Austin Reaves Is The Most Important Player On The Lakers 1:12:48 LeBron Speaks On Not Being An All Star Starter 1:22:43 Jeanie Buss Gives Her True Feelings On LeBron 1:26:11 Wemby Makes A Vow To Improve The All Star Game 1:31:43 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About the GuestChuck is a dedicated parent and basketball coach who plays a central role in guiding A'zyua Blair's development both on and off the court. With a strong connection to the basketball community, Chuck emphasizes strategic decision-making, mentorship, and character development in youth sports.A'zyua Blair is a rising star and basketball prospect in the Class of 2027, navigating the competitive youth basketball and AAU landscape with maturity, focus, and long-term vision.Episode SummaryIn this episode of It's Just Different, host Ashley Roberts sits down with Chuck, the parent and coach of rising basketball talent A'zyua Blair (Class of 2027), for a real and insightful conversation about what it truly takes to support a young athlete's journey.The discussion dives deep into the realities of AAU basketball, college recruiting, and the often-overlooked role parents and guardians play in shaping an athlete's path. Chuck shares how intentional mentorship, maturity, and strategic choices have guided A'zyua's growth in a highly competitive basketball environment.This episode goes beyond highlights and rankings, shedding light on the business of youth sports, the importance of finding the right teams and platforms, and how families can better prepare athletes for long-term success—both on and off the court.Key Takeaways- Maturity Matters: Developing emotional and mental maturity is just as important as skill development.- Parents Play a Major Role: From planning to decision-making, parents help shape an athlete's future more than many realize.- Choosing the Right Environment: The right AAU team and competition level can significantly impact development and exposure.- Every Journey Is Different: Success doesn't follow one path—adaptability and timing are key.- Understanding the Business: NIL, finances, and education are becoming essential parts of youth sports conversations.Resources for Parents & PlayersHow To Pick An AAU Team In 2026: https://stan.store/_thisisashleyr/p/h...Join the Basketball Parent Community (FREE 7-day trial):https://www.ashleynroberts.com/communityDownload the FREE Guide to Save Money, Time & Stress:https://ashleyroberts.kit.com/subscribeGet the Basketball Parent Toolkit (Your full roadmap):https://www.ashleynroberts.com/produc...Shop DIFFERENT merch (Use code “Podcast” for 15% off):https://itsjustdifferentapparel.com

Coach Kurt Steiner is the head coach at The MacDuffie School, where he is building a legitimate NEPSAC AA program the right way. In this episode, Kurt breaks down how The MacDuffie School develops players day to day, why the 5:30 AM gym slot reveals everything about work habits, and how measurable testing drives accountability. He explains how The MacDuffie School's open gyms, structure, and culture help college coaches evaluate players honestly, and why placement today is about fit, timing, and trust rather than labels. 

Travis McAvene is the Global Basketball Grassroots Director for Big Baller Brand (BBB) where he is responsible for developing basketball clinics, All-Star games and AAU tournaments across the United States and Internationally. McAvene has 27 years of high level basketball coaching experience at the prep school, college and overseas professional level.Since 2012, McAvene has coached in the following countries at the professional level; Taiwan, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos, Lebanon, Tonga, Belize and Mexico. During this time, his teams have won Championships in Taiwan, Dominican Republic, Lebanon, Tonga and Mexico.McAvene started his coaching career in 1998 and has coached at the NCAA Division I, NAIA and NJCAA college basketball levels.He also won back to back Prep School National Championships in 2003 and 2004 and built the best prep school basketball program in the Midwest at Harmony Prep in Cincinnati, Ohio from 2005-2006.McAvene served as Head Coach for the USA Jones Cup Men's National Team in Taiwan from 2012-2013. During this time, he won silver and bronze medals against Olympic Men's National Teams throughout Asia and the Middle East.McAvene was also a key part of the recruiting and talent evaluation process with the world famous Harlem Globetrotters from 2010-2016, where he served as a professional scout. During this time, he recruited and signed several college basketball players to play for the Washington Generals.On this episode Mike & Travis discuss importance of adaptability and diligence within the coaching profession, particularly in the face of the evolving college basketball framework. McAvene draws upon his extensive 27-year coaching experience, which spans various levels and countries, to illustrate how flexibility has become a critical asset for contemporary coaches. Additionally, he provides insights into his role at Big Baller Brand, where he is tasked with fostering grassroots initiatives worldwide, including basketball clinics and tournaments aimed at nurturing young talent. This dialogue serves not only to illuminate the challenges and rewards of coaching but also to highlight the ever-expanding opportunities available within the realm of grassroots basketball.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.Make sure you're subscribed to the Hoop Heads Pod on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and while you're there please leave us a 5 star rating and review. Your ratings help your friends and coaching colleagues find the show. If you really love what you're hearing recommend the Hoop Heads Pod to someone and get them to join you as a part of Hoop Heads Nation.Take some notes as you listen to this episode with Travis McAvene, Global Basketball Grassroots Director for Big Baller Brand.Website – https://bigballerbrandinc.com/Email – bbbglobal@bigballerbrandinc.comTwitter/X - @bigballerbrandVisit our Sponsors!Dr. Dish BasketballA Perfect Gift To Your Team for the Holidays!Score Big on Dr. Dish Basketball's End of Year Sale and give your team the gift of extra, more efficient reps this...

On this episode, Mike and Jason look back at the Western Conference preseason over/unders and discuss each West team as the NBA season approaches the halfway point.Visit our Sponsors!Dr. Dish BasketballA Perfect Gift To Your Team for the Holidays!Score Big on Dr. Dish Basketball's End of Year Sale and give your team the gift of extra, more efficient reps this season!

In this episode, George is joined by Dr. Matt Bowers to explore how different sport environments—from structured teams to unstructured play—shape athlete development, creativity, and long-term potential. He challenges early specialization, outcome-driven coaching, and win-at-all-costs youth systems, advocating instead for play, autonomy, and constraint-led learning. Matt also shares lessons from research, parenting, AAU culture, and even video games to help coaches design better practice environments that protect joy, growth, and human development. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction to Dr. Matt Bowers and His Research Background 01:30 – Discovering Constraints-Led Approaches and Athlete Learning 04:30 – Youth Development, Long-Term Potential, and the Coach's Role 08:30 – Early Specialization vs. Multi-Sport Sampling 11:30 – Why Being the Best at 8 Years Old Doesn't Matter 13:30 – Playing the Long Game in Youth Basketball 15:00 – Training vs. Competition Ratios in AAU Culture 18:00 – Small-Sided Games, Constraints, and Individual Growth 21:00 – Navigating AAU Pressures as a Parent and Coach 23:00 – What Traditional Sports Can Learn from Video Games 26:00 – Rethinking the Scoreboard and Competition 29:00 – Hope for the Next Generation of Coaches and Leaders 32:00 – Transformative Tip Level up your coaching with our Amazon Best Selling Book: https://amzn.to/3vO1Tc7Access tons more of evidence-based coaching resources: https://transformingbball.com/products/ Links:Website: http://transformingbball.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/transformbballInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/transformingbasketball/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@transformingbasketballFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/transformingbasketball/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@transforming.basketball

0:30 The warm up2:15 Family influence2:30 Parents 3:00 Circle3:15 Who do you model your game after?3:30 Strengths/Weaknesses 4:45 Game day prep5:15 Do you love to win or hate to lose?5:30 What type of coaching do you respond to?5:45 AAU role6:15 Differences in the game at the HS level7:00 Choosing Carroll 7:30 Facing adversity 8:00 Gym schedule8:45 Learning from seniors9:15 Tell me a part of your game that flies under the radar or is undervalued 9:30 What parts of the floor do you feel the most/least comfortable?10:00 GW assist, bucket, or defensive stop?10:30 What do you value?11:00 Interests and hobbies 11:30 Give me your goals for this season 12:00 When did you know that basketball might be it for you?12:30 What has been your happiest moment on a basketball court?13:00 What sets the DMV apart 13:30 Why should people believe in you as a prospect?14:15 What is your why?

About the GuestCasey Boyd brings a unique perspective to youth basketball as both a coach and a parent. After spending 15 years as a CPA in the corporate world, Casey transitioned into coaching girls basketball during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is currently the high school basketball coach at Grace Prep and an AAU coach with True Texas Hoops. Casey is also the mother of one of the most highly sought-after young athletes in the country, giving her firsthand experience navigating development, recruiting, and balance in youth sports.Episode SummaryIn this episode of It's Just Different, host Ashley Roberts sits down with Casey Boyd to unpack the realities of youth basketball from a parent and coach perspective. Casey shares her unconventional journey from corporate accounting to coaching, and how that transition reshaped her approach to athlete development, leadership, and family life.The conversation dives deep into key topics parents often struggle with — including whether athletes should play up or on level, how to choose the right AAU program, and how to balance ambition with long-term development. Casey emphasizes the importance of game reps, mental growth, team fit, and trusting the process rather than chasing exposure too early.This episode also highlights the growing impact of women-led basketball organizations, the importance of maintaining healthy parent-athlete relationships, and why allowing kids to enjoy the game is critical for sustainable success.Key Takeaways- Playing on an age-appropriate level can significantly impact confidence, skill development, and basketball IQ- Parents should prioritize development, reps, and environment over status and hype- Balancing parenting and coaching requires intentional boundaries and trust- Women-led and independent basketball programs play a vital role in youth development- The right team fit can make or break an athlete's long-term growthResources for Parents & PlayersHow To Pick An AAU Team In 2026: https://stan.store/_thisisashleyr/p/h...Join the Basketball Parent Community (FREE 7-day trial):https://www.ashleynroberts.com/communityDownload the FREE Guide to Save Money, Time & Stress:https://ashleyroberts.kit.com/subscribeGet the Basketball Parent Toolkit (Your full roadmap):https://www.ashleynroberts.com/produc...Shop DIFFERENT merch (Use code “Podcast” for 15% off):https://itsjustdifferentapparel.com

Britt Moore is in his 9th season as the Men's Basketball Head Coach at Elizabethtown College where he has the Blue Jays off to a 10-1 start this year.Before taking the head coaching position at Elizabethtown, Moore spent six seasons as the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford, taking his Panther teams to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Tournament each season.Previously, Moore was an assistant coach at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, for five seasons, including the final two as associate head coach to Rick Ferry. Moore started his coaching career as an assistant at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pennsylvania from 2004 -2006.As a player, Moore played in 25 games for Elizabethtown as a sophomore in 2000-01 and ended his playing career at King's College, where he was a two-time letter winner from 2002-04.On this episode Mike & Britt discuss the fundamental aspects of basketball that contribute to winning, such as rebounding and defensive effort. Throughout the conversation, we delve into the evolution of coaching methodologies, particularly the necessity of fostering a culture where players hold one another accountable for their performance. Additionally, we explore the challenges of maintaining a cohesive team dynamic amidst varying levels of player ability and acceptance of roles. Ultimately, Coach Moore shares insights into the intrinsic rewards of coaching, underscoring the profound joy derived from mentoring young athletes and witnessing their development on and off the court.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.Make sure you're subscribed to the Hoop Heads Pod on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and while you're there please leave us a 5 star rating and review. Your ratings help your friends and coaching colleagues find the show. If you really love what you're hearing recommend the Hoop Heads Pod to someone and get them to join you as a part of Hoop Heads Nation.Don't forget to grab your notebook before you listen to this episode with Britt Moore, Men's Basketball Head Coach at Elizabethtown College.Website – https://etownbluejays.com/sports/mens-basketballEmail – moorebr@etown.eduTwitter/X - @BrittMoore_Visit our Sponsors!Dr. Dish BasketballA Perfect Gift To Your Team for the Holidays!Score Big on Dr. Dish Basketball's End of Year Sale and give your team the gift of extra, more efficient reps this season!

Visit https://teachhoops.com/  for ball-handling progression drills, decision-making frameworks, and offensive systems designed to emphasize smart possessions, efficient ball movement, and the discipline required to value every possession like it matters. In this episode, we tackle two interconnected problems that plague countless high school basketball teams and directly sabotage offensive efficiency: players who over-dribble instead of passing to open teammates, and careless turnovers that waste possessions through poor decisions, loose handles, or lack of awareness under pressure. These aren't just minor annoyances—they're fundamental flaws that prevent talented teams from reaching their potential and turn close games into frustrating losses where you dominated statistically but still lost because you gave the ball away 20+ times. We explore the root causes behind over-dribbling: players conditioned by AAU basketball and highlight culture to hunt individual scoring, lack of trust in teammates' ability to finish plays, poor court vision that prevents seeing open players, fundamental ball-handling weaknesses that force players into trouble, and offensive systems that lack structure or spacing so dribbling becomes the default action. You'll learn diagnostic strategies for identifying whether over-dribbling stems from selfish tendencies, skill deficiencies, or system problems—each requires different solutions. We discuss the mental shift required to value assists as much as buckets, teaching players to recognize when the pass creates better opportunities than continued dribbling, and installing offensive principles (swing-swing-attack, two-dribble maximum rules, drive-and-kick concepts) that systematically reduce unnecessary dribbling. This episode provides detailed frameworks for reducing turnovers across different categories: live-ball turnovers from over-dribbling and poor handle (addressed through ball-handling skill work and decision-making drills with pressure), passing turnovers from telegraphing or poor timing (fixed through passing progression drills and reading help defenders), and mental turnovers from low basketball IQ (improved through film study, situation work, and accountability systems). We share specific drills that create consequences for turnovers—possession-based scrimmages where turnovers result in immediate substitutions, offensive efficiency scoring systems that penalize possessions ending in turnovers, and competitive scenarios where protecting the ball matters more than scoring volume. Whether you're coaching talented players with bad habits, young athletes who lack fundamental skills, or experienced teams that simply need better discipline and decision-making, you'll gain comprehensive strategies to transform your team from turnover-prone to possession-efficient, unlocking offensive potential that's been sabotaged by preventable mistakes. over-dribbling basketball, reducing turnovers basketball, basketball ball security, careless turnovers basketball, basketball possession efficiency, over-dribbling solutions, turnover reduction basketball, basketball decision making, ball handling drills, basketball passing emphasis, reducing ball turnovers, basketball offensive discipline, turnover prevention basketball, basketball ball control, smart possession basketball, basketball assist culture, over-dribbling coaching, basketball turnover drills, possession value basketball, basketball court vision, turnover accountability basketball, ball movement basketball, basketball dribble discipline, offensive efficiency turnovers, basketball passing culture, protecting basketball possession, basketball IQ turnovers, decision-making drills basketball, Wisconsin basketball turnovers, high school turnover problems SEO Keywords: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode, Mike and Jason take turns asking each other, "You Buying?" when it comes to these NBA Questions.Are you buying...The Trae Young Trade?That a team other than the Thunder will win the West?That the Clippers will continue their ascent up the Western Conference?That the Warriors should make a win now trade?That Giannis will be a Buck after the trade deadline?That Cooper Flagg will be the Rookie of the Year?Visit our Sponsors!Dr. Dish BasketballA Perfect Gift To Your Team for the Holidays!Score Big on Dr. Dish Basketball's End of Year Sale and give your team the gift of extra, more efficient reps this season!

On this episode, Mike and Jason discuss the ramifications of Jokic's injury in Monday's loss to the Heat. Next, they dive into the Cavs lackluster season and the Laker's defensive issues. After that, Mike & Jason hit on the Spurs three wins over OKC in recent weeks and how those losses may have exposed some vulnerability in the Thunder. Finally, they try to figure out the Hawk's Trae Young issues.Visit our Sponsors!Dr. Dish BasketballA Perfect Gift To Your Team for the Holidays!Score Big on Dr. Dish Basketball's End of Year Sale and give your team the gift of extra, more efficient reps this season!